These next 12 documents are a sampling from different departments of France and different levels of difficultly. . Here, you can practice what you’ve learned at your own pace. You will need your notebook again, pencil, and magnifying glass. You will see a sampling of different handwriting, some clearer, some ‘scratchy’, some smudgy, some with cramped letters. Your study on baptism records should help you with the phrasing and training your eyes to spot it.
Have your flash list ready. Study one example at a time, concentrate on the highlighted words and phrases, write them down, (you should be able to memorize some words, or at least after this you will), and then arrange the important data. I only highlighted the vital information and the words that went with it. I’ll spare you the legal yadda.
Some names and words are undecipherable, just write down what you see. Don’t worry or frustration’, the people and priests at that time made lots of mistakes in their handwriting and spelling. You’ll conquer this! You just need to study and train your eyes to extract the important information. You can move on to another one, and come back to it later on. With each attempt, with each study, you only put yourself forward. Remember, perseverance, commitment, time, study.
Let’s move to Tutorial 7 Examining French Handwriting—>