Handwriting: The Personal Touch (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2025 Week 49 theme: 'Written")

Genealogists treasure connections to their ancestors. Old family letters, journals and diaries are often especially touching with the ancestor having created it by hand with their own personal flair. Never mind the possible hints that handwriting analysis might reveal. Just the sheer joy of looking at something written by the ancestor's hand can tug at the heart.

With the steady decline in the use of cursive handwriting, written materials left behind now will almost certainly be typed and digitized into conformity. No personal touch except for the content. And even content is being de-personalized with the increasing use of AI. 

Time to revisit some of the handwriting samples left behind by a few members of my family. 

Starting with my Dad Kenneth Bardahl (1926-1997), a keen family historian. I don't have to look far in my materials to find things written by him. Here is one example relating to a copy of a book page about his grandfather Hans Bardahl. 

Written materials provided to me by Kenneth Bardahl 1988 

Yes, Dad, I do enjoy seeing this notation you made and, like you, I hope future generations can also enjoy it. As we do with the writing you did in 1991 at the request of your grandson Grant. Here is the cover letter from Dad's 35 page handwritten life story:

I never heard his story about his day as a sales clerk in menswear and wish I could ask him about that. More stories would have been even better, Dad.

Dad's maternal grandfather Carl Nelson (1839-1911) had beautiful writing as can be seen from these handwritten invitations for his daughter Louise's wedding:

Nor everyone could claim beautiful penmanship. My maternal grandmother Idella Edwards shared a significant amount about her eclectic early American ancestry with her son Robert. Here is an example of her writing from the 1960s relating to her grandfather George Garner Wescott's service in the American Civil War.

Although she had been a school teacher, Della was the first to acknowledge her poor penmanship. I remember when she was learning to type in the late 1950s in preparation for starting a motel business; she told me it would be the only way people could read her writing!

One final person I would like to note is Jorgen Torkelson Neurak (1788-1839), one of my mother's paternal ancestors who was klokkar (sextant) at Nissedal, Telemark, Norway and would have been in charge of keeping the church records. (The Lutheran State Church records are the official vital records for Norway.) For example, the following would have been Jorgen's handwritten entry for the 1835 birth and 1836 baptism of his son Halvor Jorgenson.

Birth and baptism records 1836 from Nissedal Kirkeboker Parish Register 1814-1862, p.49

I find it particularly poignant  to note that upon his death in 1839, the writing in the church books (starting with his burial) took a turn for the worse as a new clerk took over the responsibilities. (Anyone who has experience with old records in Gothic script knows the challenges faced in deciphering even simple words and names when the penmanship is excellent, never mind when it's not.)

Handwritten notations are far more touching than the more easily read and searched digitized version of the same information. It's that personal touch provided by the hand of our ancestors that will be missed when it comes to records being left by us now.

Post Script

After bemoaning the move to digitization and use of AI, it occurred to me that I am not leaving much in the way of handwritten records myself. I have, however, kept journals of my genealogical journey and have copied from a page written by me in January of 1998 at the Alberta Family Histories Society monthly meeting, Beginners' Session. Apparently they were filling us in on local resources available in Calgary. Sadly, I doubt that my log book/journals will provide much of particular interest to future genealogists.

The Andersons at Bawlf, Alberta, Canada (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2025 Week 32 theme: "Wide Open Spaces")

My maternal great great grandfather Israel Anderson (1829-1910) spent a lifetime searching for wide open spaces. Born in 1829  and raised in Laxarby, Västra Götaland, Sweden, 3 miles from the nearest town, he moved to Norway as a young man to work on a farm there. He married farmer's daughter Johanna Gundersdatter Opsahl and moved to America in 1856 with wife and their first child, my great grandfather Anders (Andrew) Anderson. 

Israel and Johanna went on to have the following children: Andrew b 1855, Sophia b. abt. 1856, Ida b. 1858, Gunelius b. 1862, Olava b. 1864, Annetta b. 1868, John b. 1868, Betsy b. abt. 1870 and Carl Gustaf b. 1873. Johanna died in 1900.  

Over the years, the call of its wide open spaces took Israel and family to several newly developing areas on the American frontier. After first settling in Decatur, WI, they moved on to Northwood County, Iowa and then to Grafton, Dakota Territories, traveling by train and covered wagon. In 1901 son Carl Gustaf moved across the border to homestead in Manitoba. In 1902 son Gunelius moved his family to Canada as well, settling in what became the Bawlf area of what was then the North-West Territories.  In 1903 Israel himself emigrated for a third and final time to join Gunelius in the Bawlf area. He was a widower in his mid-70s.

Alberta was not even yet a province when Israel arrived. In 1903 the land was still part of the North-West Territories, and, of course, before that had been part of the truly wide open spaces occupied by the western First Nations peoples. At noon on 1 September 1905 Alberta became a Province of Canada. Israel had been there for a couple of years by this time.

Google Earth view of Bawlf area - showing the present-day checkerboard of fields that were wide open spaces when the Andersons arrived

The Village of Bawlf was established in the vast Canadian prairies in 1905, the same year that Alberta became a province. Named for Nicholas Bawlf, president of the Winnipeg Grain Exchange, the town came into being alongside the new railroad. Farming and shipping grain were its raison d'être.

Son Gunelius "G.I."  had moved there the preceding year with his family. The following is from a letter dated 17 May 1977 from Ernie and Esther Anderson to R.W. "Bob" Anderson, based on their recollections of  comments made by Gunelius's son Lawrence Anderson: 

"G.I. left Edinburg, N.D., where he owned a hotel, in 1902 and moved to Alberta. Andrew and John came up two years later and bought a half section beside the homestead. Lawrence was saved land, proved it up and got it at age 21. The railroad came in 1906. Israel homesteaded near his sons' farms and was required to spend a few months each year on his homestead, so he had a house on skids that he pulled over to the land in summer and then back to the sons in the winter.    Lawrence said they lived in 2 tents when they arrive in Daysland and lived in them until three weeks before Christmas when their house was finally ready for occupancy. It was bitterly cold, he remembers."

The 1906 census of Alberta shows Gunelius at section 8-45-17-W4M, his sons Emil at 10-45-17-W4M and Lawrence at 30-44-16-W4M. Another brother, John Anderson, had homesteaded at Bawlf just east of his father at NE36-44-17 W4M.

Homestead application of Israel Anderson

Sadly, on 7 March 1910, at age 80, Israel died before proving up his homestead application. 

1910 Post Card from Gunelius Anderson advising sister Sophia of Israel's death

Decades ago my uncle Bob Anderson and his son visited the rural Lutheran cemetery near Bawlf  where Israel is buried. A few years after this, while attending a kids' hockey tournament at nearby Daysland, my husband and I also paid Israel's gravesite a visit.

Two of His Male Anderson descendants visit Israel's burial location 

In 1998, in response to my letter to the Village of Bawlf, local resident and historical record-keeper Lil Bohmer sent me a considerable amount of information based on local knowledge of the family. Lil was a member of the same Bawlf Lutheran Church as the Andersons and was the record-keeper for the cemetery. She provided the burial locations for Israel as well as for Gunelius, his wife Sophia, their daughter Gina Reesor (1891-1928), son Emil (1884-1950) and son Alfred (1886-1954).

Lil went on to say: 

I found in the Daysland History book the enclosed information about Kenneth and Aleda Anderson. Also in the book were copies of maps showing land owners in the early 1900s. Another son of Gunelius and Sophia farmed north of Ohaton. He was known as Ike but a gentleman who knew him said he thought his given name was Israel - after his grandfather. The other son Lawrence, who farmed with Alfred later lived in Daysland. I found several people who remembered Gunelius and family but no one is left who would remember Israel. The house that the Andersons built on their farm was considered a beautiful place. Their neighbours and church friends were all there for Open House when it was completed. A few years ago that house was moved into Daysland to be a neat looking place yet. It was a 2 story. The fact that it had a kitchen nook and a dining room had impressed everyone. 

Israel's grandsons Clarence and Ingwald (sons of Andrew) homesteaded in the Lancer area of Saskatchewan, Canada a few years later. The wide open spaces of the Canadian prairies did not suit everyone. Some of the sons or their descendants ended up moving back south of the 49th parallel. The current crop of Andersons inhabiting Canada's wide open spaces primarily descend through the Israel/Andrew/Ingwald line. 

3 of Israel's sons backed by their sons about 1915: lower left my great grandfather Andrew Anderson in front of his son Clarence, lower centre Gunelius in front of his son Emil and lower right John in front of his son Victor. The picture was taken after Victor returned from fighting in World War I

Margaret Chandler (1577-1645) 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2021 # 41: Religious Changes

My 10th great grandmother Margaret Chandler was born in 1577 in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, England to Tobias and Joan (Mumford) Chandler. Bishop's Stortford is a market town about half-way between London and Cambridge.

Google Earth image showing location of Bishop's Stortford

The second oldest in a family of  11 children, Margaret was baptized in St. Michael's Church there, no doubt with the use of this marble baptismal font that had been in the church since Norman times.

Wikimedia Commons Image by Colin Smith / St Michael's Font / CC BY-SA 2.0

Like the rest of England, Bishop's Stortford had undergone several abrupt religious changes during the 16th century. This link contains photographs of St. Michael's Church and  a more specific description of the impact of the changes on this parish. 

As a reminder: King Henry VIII had split from the Roman Catholic Church in a dispute between pope and king over Henry's wish to divorce his wife so as to be free to remarry and sire a male heir.  The result was the establishment in 1534 of the independent Church of England with the King as its final authority. Although much remained unchanged from the Catholic Church, many changes were made in accordance with the more wide-spread Protestant reformation that had been sweeping much of Europe at the time. As might be expected, not all Henry's subjects were happy with this change. Nevertheless, the country remained Protestant under his son Edward VI, but Edward's early death led to his Catholic half-sister Mary becoming Queen in 1553. Over the years, many people on both sides of the religious divide were martyred for their beliefs. When Protestant Queen Elizabeth I succeeded her half sister Mary to the throne in 1558, one might have thought that at least the Protestant faction might once again be happy with the change. Some were, but many felt the Protestant changes in England had not gone far enough away from Popish ways and wanted to further purify their religion; this group became known as the Puritans. 

It does not appear that Margaret's parents were among the dissident Puritan group. Although we can't know for certain, they seem to have come through the religious changes relatively unscathed and one might assume that Margaret's childhood during the reign of Queen Elizabeth was relatively stable. (Another of my ancestors, Thomas Morse,  was not so fortunate, ending up in a lot of hot water while trying to retain his career as a dissident parish priest throughout all these changes.)

When the plague struck the town in 1582-83, Margaret was just 5 or 6 years of age, but she and her family also appear to have survived that challenge unscathed.

At the age of about 23, on 02 April 1600 she married Henry Monke (or Monck) in Albury, a town about 5 miles west of Bishop's Stortford. The couple had one child, a son named George Monke, prior to Henry's untimely death; Henry was buried at Bishop's Stortford on 10 December 1602. 

On 7 November 1603, the young widow remarried. Her second husband was William Denison, a man some five or six years her senior. This appears to have been William's first marriage. The couple would go on to have seven children, their youngest being my 9th great grandfather George Denison born in 1620.

Like many other men of Bishop's Stortford, William was a maltster. The town was perfectly situated amid the farms of East Anglia and Hertfordshire, producers of the barley to be changed into malt for dark ales popular in nearby London. It is said that the aroma from the maltings filled the surrounding area for centuries.

At some point, probably in the late 1620's, William became a convert to the Puritan cause and in 1631 decided to move his family to New England where they would join like-minded families. (There is some thought that Margaret was a bit reluctant and did not join her family until the following year, but no actual record can be found of her departure from England or arrival in New England. The pervasive sexism of the times has many of the records completely ignoring women migrants.)

As William and Margaret's oldest son John Dennison (born 7 April 1605) was already well established in a position as vicar of Standon, Hertfordshire and had a family of his own, he remained in England. 

Second son William (born 1606) had gone to be a soldier in Holland; he took part in the Siege of Breda and was never heard from again. 

Their third son, George (born 1609), died at the age of five. Their only daughter, Sarah (born 1615), lived just one week.

Daniel (born 1612), Edward (born 1616) and George (born 1620) were the three sons who headed to America with their father (and perhaps their mother). Daniel had been studying at Cambridge but was removed by his father in order to make the move. Also mentioned as being with them on that voyage was Reverend John Eliot, suggested by some to have been the boys' tutor. The family settled in Roxbury (now a suburb of Boston), one of the first settlements in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Reverend Eliot became the pastor of the First Church Roxbury, where William Dennison became member #3 of the congregation.

Not all was smooth sailing as William appeared to have another change of heart with respect to religion. He was one of five Roxbury men to be disarmed on 20 November 1637 for supporting Mr. Wheelwright and Mrs. Hutchinson. This was in regard to the Antinomian Controversy which raged in Puritan New England from 1636-1638. It pitted the majority of the Puritans against the adherents of a "covenant of grace" espoused by Cotton Mather and supported by Anne Hutchinson and her brother-in-law Reverend John Wheelwright. Apparently William Denison was a supporter. The Antinomians were generally regarded as heretics against the established religious laws. Concepts regarding gender and politics added to the disagreement. We don't know whether Margaret was one of the numerous women who followed Anne Hutchinson's teachings.

What we do know is that Margaret was a bit of a hold-out when it came to declaring her faith. Presumably she had been Anglican from birth, but it does not seem that she converted to Puritanism with her husband. When she was finally admitted to the Roxbury Church as member #33, the event was apparently deemed worthy of note:  “Margret Dennison, the wife of William Dennison, It pleased God to work upon her heart & change it in her ancient years, after she came to this land; & joined to the church in the year 1632”.  

The only other reference that has been found of Margaret is that  ”Old Mother Dennison” died Roxbury 3 February 1645/46. She is buried in the Eliot Burying Ground at Roxbury but no stone marks the place of her final rest.

Some Resources: 

• Anderson, Robert Charles, "The Great Migration Begins, Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633", Volume 1; Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995
• "Bishop's Stortford and Thorley: A History and Guide" located online at https://www.stortfordhistory.co.uk/
• A history of the Protestant Reformation in England and Scotland located online at https://www.britannica.com/topic/Protestantism/The-Reformation-in-England-and-Scotland