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Help needed reading old document!

50 replies

sonjadog · 16/04/2023 16:48

I am looking through some old family documents and came across this certificate. Can anyone tell me what the first names of the two fathers are? I can’t work them out. Thanks!

Help needed reading old document!
OP posts:
SaltyGod · 16/04/2023 16:51

Perhaps George and James?

Karatema · 16/04/2023 16:53

That's what I read them as too 😀

RuthW · 16/04/2023 16:53

Bottom one James.
Other one, Eric or George

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sonjadog · 16/04/2023 16:59

I thought James but then does it not end -se?

OP posts:
countvoncount · 16/04/2023 17:00

I read the lower one as Samuel!

sonjadog · 16/04/2023 17:00

I see George for the first one now, thanks!

OP posts:
AncientToaster · 16/04/2023 17:05

I think the bottom is James and then an initial like Hunter S Thompson.

The top looks like it could be George but could you show the rest of the certificate because the clue could be an easy decipher of another word and the pattern in the writing.

userlotsanumbers · 16/04/2023 17:06

George Richard Timston?

WeegieWan · 16/04/2023 17:06

Lower name looks like James C Hannah.

Upper names is harder to decipher- something Riches Thomaspon? Which seems like a spelling mistake..?

TheNoodlesIncident · 16/04/2023 17:06

Think it's James C, isn't it?

My mum used to decipher old documents for transferring to microfiche, she had to spend a while learning the writing style of each scribe, so you knew most of the ways they wrote their lower case s, etc. It's harder to work out in isolation.

thatsn0tmyname · 16/04/2023 17:07

James and George

KnittingNeedles · 16/04/2023 17:08

George Richard Thomson and Samuel Hanna

Sourfairy · 16/04/2023 17:10

What does the first profession say? The second word starts with the same letter as the second name does

KnittingNeedles · 16/04/2023 17:12

Civil Service is the first occupation. I look at this sort of thing every day and find reading it really easy - it's familiarity. The more you see a S written that way, the easier it gets.

And yes - that's the first rule of decoding. Build a letter sheet with all examples of upper case and lower case letters.

userlotsanumbers · 16/04/2023 17:17

Oh the surname of the first one is I think beginning with Turs... - the occupation of the second is farmer, and the R is written the same way in both.

I think the second name is James C, then surname is Ham....

Married by licence, so not in a church of England.

KnittingNeedles · 16/04/2023 17:18

Given that the top says "Co Derry" it's pretty likely they were not married in England at all!!

sonjadog · 16/04/2023 17:20

Not in England, no.

The surnames are Thompson and Hanna. I know that from family history elsewhere.

OP posts:
sonjadog · 16/04/2023 17:21

It does look like Thompson is misspelt Thomspon!

OP posts:
FadedRed · 16/04/2023 17:23

George Richard Thompson Civil Service Post Office
Samuel Hanna Farmer or maybe (but I don’t really think so) could be Farrier

senua · 16/04/2023 17:23

Sourfairy · 16/04/2023 17:10

What does the first profession say? The second word starts with the same letter as the second name does

If the answer is "civil Service" then does that get us back to Samuel, rather than James [initial]?

TurkishClouds · 16/04/2023 17:24

George and Samuel

(I've had to decipher lots of these types of document)

KnittingNeedles · 16/04/2023 17:26

It is most definitely NOT a capital J at the start of the second name. Honestly, I would bet good money and my professional reputation on it being Samuel.

Karatema · 16/04/2023 17:51

countvoncount · 16/04/2023 17:00

I read the lower one as Samuel!

You could well be right!

sonjadog · 16/04/2023 18:07

Hanna was definitely a farmer.

I phoned my Mum and she says the name Samuel Hanna rings a bell, so I think that is it! It isn’t her family but she was with my Dad for over 60 years so knew a lot about his ancestors.

Thanks for the help!

OP posts:
merryhouse · 16/04/2023 18:11

userlotsanumbers · 16/04/2023 17:17

Oh the surname of the first one is I think beginning with Turs... - the occupation of the second is farmer, and the R is written the same way in both.

I think the second name is James C, then surname is Ham....

Married by licence, so not in a church of England.

Entirely irrelevant here, but you can get married by licence in a church.

(In fact, I did. H was living in Scotland and they Didn't Do Banns in the general way of things. The most straightforward solution ended up me going to the diocesan office and swearing an oath, upon which they issued me with a licence.)

Farmer Hanna is definitely Samuel.