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Genealogy
Original poster

Deciphering handwriting

28 replies

Orlabot · 03/08/2018 21:27

I would love some help deciphering this hand writing. I have been trying to trace my mother and think I have found her birth certificate. Under fathers occupation is the following word and I can't figure out what it is....and it's driving me demented! Please help...

Deciphering handwriting
OP posts:
metallicbear · 03/08/2018 21:34

I think it says labourer

glasshalfsomething · 03/08/2018 21:35

@metallicbear gonin there before me. Agreed on Labourer

metallicbear · 03/08/2018 21:35

The first letter is the tricky one, looks more like an f or a j but think it's an l!

Good luck with your search x

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 03/08/2018 21:37

Definitely labourer.

DoodlingMyName · 03/08/2018 21:37

I think it says Falconer. Just asked DH & he said Falconer too without prompting from me.

MamaLupine · 03/08/2018 21:38

It looks like 'labourer'. I'm no expert but I've seen it a lot on researching my own family tree.

Teaandbiscuits35 · 03/08/2018 21:39

I read it as Labourer too. Good luck 😀

Original poster
Orlabot · 03/08/2018 21:43

Thank you all...I thought labourer too, but the first letter is almost 100% a T from other words on the document, but T makes no sense in any combination I have come up with.

Deciphering handwriting
OP posts:
glasshalfsomething · 03/08/2018 21:47

So it would be T-A-L...
Can't think of any occupation that would fit

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 03/08/2018 21:48

Labourer is going to have been so much more common than anything else, too.

FlaviaAlbia · 03/08/2018 21:51

I would have read it as Tabaner, but that's not a thing is it? How good was his spelling do you think?

LyraLieIn · 03/08/2018 21:52

Do you have any other capital Ls to compare it to? In case the author did Ts and Ls the same

tattychicken · 03/08/2018 21:55

I think it's tal or tab something, is this an Irish birth certificate?

tattychicken · 03/08/2018 21:57

Ooooo just read that taberner means innkeeper in Ireland?! But it doesn't really look like taberner....Hmm

Original poster
Orlabot · 03/08/2018 22:00

Yes, it is Irish, but relatively recent, so it would not be old Irish writing. There are about 5 Ts to compare it to and no other capital letters that match. I suppose it is labourer, but I just have a little doubt hanging over it. Thank you all for your help.

OP posts:
Penfold007 · 03/08/2018 22:03

Labourer. It's just the looped style of the time.

TreaterAnita · 03/08/2018 22:15

I don’t think it looks like ‘Labourer’, there isn’t an ‘ou’ and I don’t think that’s an L at the start. It looks like Tabaner, but I’d say Falconer.

BlueUggs · 03/08/2018 22:18

It definitely doesn't say labourer.

I would say falconer or tabener.

mummysandwich · 03/08/2018 22:24

I think it looks like falconer too.

TressiliansStone · 03/08/2018 22:33

If it is Tabaner, it might be worth trying to find street directories of the area – innkeepers are usually listed.

Newspapers also mention innkeepers a fair bit (British Newspaper Archive online has Irish papers). Reports of licences being applied for, or newsworthy events occurring in pubs – auctions, meetings of building societies, fights, breaches of licensing and Sunday laws...

FlaviaAlbia · 04/08/2018 02:50

Depending how recent is recent, could you check the census records for the year? See if you could get more characters to compare on that or just another go at reading the profession.

Roystonv · 04/08/2018 03:20

Looks like Tabaner to me and if that is a job then it makes sense. I learnt to do my b's like that.

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 04/08/2018 08:16

There is an ou. Crammed close together but all the relevant loops of the letters are there.

ElasticFirecracker · 04/08/2018 19:48

Hi

I think all the letters for labourer are there, but agree the first letter does look like a T.

Depending on the date it was issued, If it is a birth death or marriage cert, you might be able to see others on the same page written by the same hand.

Images of certificates are online at irishgenealogy.ie - I think that's the right address.

AntiqueOlive · 04/08/2018 19:54

Tabaner