If you have ever found old documents related to your family,
you’ve probably struggled to read the writing on them. I’ve
puzzled over the interpretation of an old blessing document for
several years with little progress. After spending an hour
studying the document, I’ll lay it down for a week or month and
then try to add additional words to my transcription. Often the
rest period frees my mind from the interpretation that I’ve
‘locked’ in my brain and previously undecipherable words become
readable. Several methods to help us read old documents are
available to all of us. Study the way the vowels are shaped
throughout the document. Trace them and write them down with a
alphabetic key by their side. Next, explore the document for
other letters that are recognizable and add them to your list.
Soon, you’ll have enough characters defined that you can
interpolate the words in the document even if you can’t read
some or even many of the letters. Search the web and local
family history supply stores for example lis