X, her mark

In 2012 at http://www.lonetester.com/2012/10/family-history-through-the-alphabet-challenge-x-is-for-signatures/ Alona Tester blogged about 'X is for signatures'. She included examples of certificates where 'X his mark' showed that someone could not sign his name.

I looked though my collection of birth, death and marriage certificates for examples of people who could not sign their name.

On the birth certificate of Alice Young, born in 1859, the informant, her mother Caroline née Clark, could not sign her name and made an X. On the birth certificate of Caroline Young in 1867, the informant was her father George Young. He signed his name. In 1878 the birth of James Ernest Young was registered and the informant was Caroline. This time she appears to have signed her name. The informant's name is in a different handwriting to the details on the rest of the certificate. Perhaps Caroline had learned how to sign her name in the twenty years between the births of Alice and James.

Informant's details from the birth certificate of Alice Young. Birth registered in Victoria number 4807 of 1859. Caroline was also the informant on John Young's birth in 1856. She signed with her mark on that certificate too.

Informant's details from the birth certificate of James Ernest Young. Birth registered in Victoria number 20382 of 1878. Other details from the certificate and from the preceding certificate have been left to show the difference in handwriting, which suggests that this might be the signature of Caroline.

Sarah Way née Daw was the informant on the 1868 birth certificate of her daughter Emily Way. She could not sign her name and made a mark. However, in 1896 Sarah's husband John Way signed his name as the informant for the registration of the death of his son John.

When she registered the birth in 1864 of Henry Dawson at Corby, Lincolnshire, Eliza Dawson née Skerritt, his mother, could not sign her name. Her husband Isaac was able to sign his name when they married in 1855. She signed the marriage register with her mark.

These are the only examples I could find in my family documents of people who could not write their own name. All three women were great great great grandmothers of my husband. Eleven of his other great great great grandparents could sign their name.

These women were all born in the first half of the nineteenth century. All their husbands could sign their own names. In the next generation, their children, both girls and boys, could write their own name.

Some demographers have argued that illiteracy is linked to the size of families, in particular that education diminishes fertility. For example, a study of demographic changes in Britain from the 1850s to the early twentieth century found that "the extension of basic literacy is related to increases in female labour market participation, which is in turn related to fertility reduction". (Newell and Gazeley) The data from my family does not support this hypothesis. None of the women in the table below were ever in paid employment. I cannot see any link between the literacy of my own and my husband's great great great grandparents and the size of their families.

Age at marriage, children and dates of birth for our great great great grandmothers

Name	Ahnentafel number	literacy	number of children	age at marriage	age when first child born	age when last child born	age at death	lived	Notes
Caroline Clarke	33	no	13	18	18	43	44	1835-1879	Includes one set of twins.
Sarah Daw	35	no	10	17	18	37	58	1837-1895
Ellen Murray	37	passenger list stated she could read and write	11	19	20	41	64	1837-1901
Margaret Smyth	39	passenger list stated she could read and write	7	21	19	38	63	1834-1897	had a child before she married
Eliza Sinden	43	signature appears on birth and death certificates	8	25	26	41	85	1823-1908
Eliza Skerrit	45	no	10	21	24	38	65	1834-1899	Includes one set of triplets. This is the only English family. The last child was born at the time Eliza's husband, Isaac Dawson, died.
Caroline Ralph	47	signature appears on marriage certificate	10	20	21	43	46	1850-1896
Annie Frances Chauncy	49	yes	2	20	21	24	25	1857-1883	died young
Jeanie Hawkins	51	yes	4	21	22	31	79	1862-1941
Margaret Budge	53	yes	13	21	22	44	67	1845-1912
Ellen Jane Mainwaring	55	yes	10	20	20	37	75	1845-1920

The women in this table were Australian, with the exception of that of Eliza Skerrit, wife of Isaac Dawson, who was from Lincolnshire, England. I have not included my German great great great grandparents as I do not have the relevant data.

A graphical representation of the above data for our great great great grandmothers

click to enlarge

Reference:

• Newell, A. and Gazeley, I. (2012) The declines in infant mortality and fertility: Evidence from British cities in demographic transition, Economics Department Working Paper Series, University of Sussex, No. 48-2012 retrieved from http://ftp.iza.org/dp6855.pdf 27 April 2014