In addition to what John Raposo said, Joao Ventura, archivist, says it also helps to know how letters were formed back then. Many of our letters start at the top and back in the day, they would have people start the letter at the bottom.
Double fs were weird, as well as the S. I've seen images of the Declaration of Independence and other historical documents. It does take one aback for a minute. However, being a school teacher, I got use to reading a lot of bad handwriting or penmanship. Shirl S, that guy in the 2nd column is George Ross. Crazy, isn't it! It really looks like Gro Rofs or Gro Rops. My dad is George and I knew the abbreviation for that. Ross' E really looks like an R. Cheri Mello Listowner, Azores-Gen Researching: Vila Franca, Ponta Garca, Ribeira Quente, Ribeira das Tainhas, Achada -- For options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Azores Genealogy" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores.
