YES !  In transcribing some Virginia chancery records (1840± time  frame), 
I've seen the same -- lack of punctuation and irregular use of  
capitalization. However, I have not seen "I" or "i" written often enough to  compare. 
When an "orator" is addressing the court, for example, instead of  saying "I," 
he says your orator.
 
Carole D. Bryant
 
 
 
In a message dated 10/27/2010 8:16:21 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

Dear  All,

I figure there are quite a few subscribers here who have  struggled  
with transcribing old handwritten letters.  I've just  emerged from  
doing transcriptions for more than 70 Civil War era  letters.  A major  
part of the correspondence occurred among  three brothers, their  
families and themselves.  All three  followed what appears to be the  
unusual convention of avoiding all  punctuation and all inital  
capitalization (they seemed to like some  letters as capitals -- those  
would be capitalized wherever they were  found).   In addition to not  
capitalizing letters at the  beginning of sentences they would render  
the personal pronoun "I" as  a capital just once, at it's first use --  
after that it was always  written as "i."  I'm wondering if anyone  
else has come across  this pattern.

Jack Fallin
Walnut Creek, CA

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