Ebook The Ancestry of Edward Rawson, Secretary of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay

Mr. Rawson may have possessed peculiarities and individualities, but even by the light Of the present day, after making due allowance for his time, the record he has left behind of services rendered will bear comparison with many other Of the workers during those early and trying experiences in the life of the Colony. Dr. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, of Boston, the antiquary who com piled for publication the early records of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, says in his introduction or preface to that work, Of all the secretaries of this Colony, none surpassed Mr. Rawson in peculiarities of chirography, and in the use of similar forms for different letters. He had various ways of writing the letters e and r, very Often writing them in such a careless manner that nothing but the context could possibly lead to the discovery of his intentions. In the use of the letters 72, u, c, and t and c, and I, he was equally faulty. In a few instances the peculiar style of writing used by Secretary Rawson, such as the condensation of two letters into one, and by an extra stroke of the pen the making of one letter assume the appearance of two has not been followed. Several of the most common instances are the use Of an m for 7272, as Pemiman for Penniman, and an m, for an n, as Haimes for Hines. He seems to have adopted a style of contractions or contracted expressions, or half spelled words.