This is an interesting hand drawn document from my McGuin family that was found in my grandmother's home. The creator is not known but it details the family of William Thomas McGuin my 2nd great grandfather. Maybe this is where my daughter's calligraphy gene came from!
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The topic "Written" made signatures come to my mind. We all have one. It is one of the things that identifies us as an individual. We use our signatures in so many ways. We wrote checks and sign documents such as wills, loan papers and drivers licenses, wrote letters . But in today's digital world, the signature may become a thing of the past. Now we use fingerprints, facial recognition and eye scans to identify us. But our ancestors, those who could write and read, only had their signature. Those who could not write, made a mark that was witnessed by others. So I looked at some ancestors to try and find their signatures. As you will see, there are many different sources of these signatures. Here is what I came up with.
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Three of the oldest signatures are by Myles Standish (1584 - 1656) and Tristram Coffin (1605 - 1681), my 8th & 9th great grandfathers. Myles Standish ,of course, from the Mayflower and Tristram Coffin, one of the founders of Nantucket.
Stephen Flanders (1646 - 1744) My son in law's 8th great grandfather and early settler of Massachusetts
William Heacock (1716 - 1800) My 5th great grandfather and Revolutionary War Patriot
Johannes Arnold (1717 - 1803) My 5th great grandfather's signature and his brothers, Wilhelm and Peter, on a ship passenger list in 1749
Jacob Ober (1703 - 1769) My 7th great grandfather signature from a passenger list in 1729
Jacob Sinton ( 1819 - 1903) My husband's 2nd great grandfather - signature from his family bible
Zachariah Nixon ( 1770 - 1844) and his wife Martha Toms ( 1774 - 1844) signed a document selling some land for $105 in Washington Co, Indiana. It is interesting that the wife was included in this transaction in 1830. They are my 4th great grandparents.
I found several signatures in Civil War Pension records.
John B Amos (1833 - 1901) my 3rd great grandfather He served from very early in the war till it's end. He was wounded twice and a letter he wrote from the war survives.
A portion of his letter
William Harvey Gray (1838 - 1907) My husband's 2nd great grandfather, an 1886 pension file letter written by William H Gray
Another document from William H Gray's file shows the signatures of his Uncle and father in law who wrote in support of his pension request. A.W. Gray and Alfred Estes, my husband's 3rd great grandfather.
Catherine Hiller Hahn (1827 - 1912) 3rd great grandmother of my son in law who was requesting a widow's pension based upon her husband Gottlieb Hahn's service who died on board a ship on his way home at the end of the Civil War.
Conrad Ide (1832 - 1900) his 4th great grandfather
Hannah McCanna Miller (1849 - 1930) Anderson Miller's wife requesting a Widow's Pension
Jacob Miles (1833 - 2909) his 3rd great grandfather
Some signatures were found on applications for citizenship or Naturalization papers
Benjamin Johns (1840 - 1897) my husband's great grandfather who came from Cornwall, England about 1849 and applied for citizenship in 1890
Edward Lomb (1845 - 1925) my grandson in law's 3rd great grandfather who emigrated from Germany before 1880
Michael Zamba (1904 - 1976) my grandson in law's great grandfather who emigrated from Slovakia in 1921
A few signatures came from Wills
Levi Standish (1764 - 1848) my 4th great grandfather
Many of my signatures have come from WW1 and WW2 Draft Registration Cards
William Ralph Arnold (1880 - 1961) my great grandfather WW1 & WW2 - a change in his signature
Charles Lomb (1885 - 1984 my grandson in law's 2nd great grandfather WW1
Joseph Frederick Garver (1882 - 1944) my grandson in law's 2nd great grandfather WW1
Harry Leamon Miles (1900 - 19 my grandson in law's great grandfather WW1
John E Betz Jr (1886 - 1933) my husband's grandfather WW1 draft registration card
Anthony Francis Flanders (1891 - 1966) my son in law's great grandfather WW1 draft registration card
Floyd Hanley Heacock (1905 -1989) my grandfather WW2
Charles Christmas Bonadio (1906 - 1982 my grandfather WW2
Oscar Malvin Sinton (1891 - 1967) my husband's grandfather WW2
Walter John Schiller I (1918 - 1994) my daughter in law's grandfather WW2
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William Theodore Flanders (1919 - 1991) my son in law's grandfather WW2
Robert Sylvester Flanders (1922 - 1992) my son in law's grandfather WW2
Clarence Wilber Garver (1915 - 1986) my grandson in law's great grandfather WW2
Some signatures from driver's licenses and employment cards
Pasquale Bonadio who went by Patsy (1877 - 1952) my great grandfather an Italian immigrant whose name was spelled several different ways over the years
Mary Elizabeth Heacock Arnold (1906 - 1996) my grandmother who went by Elizabeth. When she sent birthday cards to us, she would always sign them "Lots of Love" . I have continued that today with my own grandchildren. I overheard the youngest one the other day talk about grammy's funny writing. I hope someone told him what it said, but he did recognize the writing as mine.
The familiar signatures of close relatives such as our parents, bring back memories of many letters and cards received from them.
Gary Gray Sinton Sr ( 1926 - 2005) my father in law
Caroline Stone Betz Sinton (1925 - 2002) my mother in law
John Floyd Heacock (1929 - 2016) my father
Kathryn Carole Bonadio Heacock (1931 - 2019) my mother, both before and after marriage, she always went by Carole.
Sarah Nixon Heacock (1835 - 1911) my Quaker 2nd great grandmother - this was found in a book entitled "A School Compendium of Natural And Experimental Philosophy" published in 1851.
Sarah's son Foster James Heacock (1869 - 1939) my great grandfather - this came from a book called "Harvey's Elementary Grammar" published in 1869 - two a little bit different, He spent some years as a teacher.
William T McGuin (1839 - 1905) my 2nd great grandfather
One last signature that I just have to share because the story that goes along with it was very involved and rather unbelievable. This note was published in many newspapers along with other stories of the sale. George Rosengrant is not an ancestor but is a 5th cousin of my husband. I wrote a separate post about him and his extended family that can be found here:
Follow the writing, you never know where it will lead you. I wonder what more we could find out about our ancestors from a handwriting expert?
Please give credit and post a link to my blog if you intend to use any of the information written here. My blog posts are © Ann M Sinton 2025. All rights reserved
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