In an earlier message Nel wrote: > His name was William Hatcher. He signed his name as > > Will Hatch: > > H B Gill tells me the colon indicates an abbreviation, so it appears Hatch: > was the abbreviated version of Hatcher (at least for ol' William). > > The words after the signature are "sealed in red wax" Small correction: the words after "Hatch:" are "seald w^th (with) red wax". Many names were abbreviated with a colon. Tho: = Thomas, Rich: = Richard, Will: = William, Cath: = Catherine, etc. It is slightly unusual to abbreviate a surname, but certainly not rare. Unless you have proof that William signed this will, I'd suspect that the will is a copy and the signature was written by the court clerk. Very few original wills from that era were preserved; most of what we have is the official copies made by the clerk. Kathleen Much To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html