Signatures of Reuben and Edmund DANIEL
One element in the evidence that my Reuben Daniel, of Spotsylvania and Orange, was the same Reuben who was a son of Edmund Daniel of Spotsylvania is that both my Reuben, and Edmund of Spotsylvania, wrote the capital "D" in their surname in the same, somewhat distinctive way. This element of evidence would be far from conclusive on its own, of course; and, in fact, I believe that the other evidence described on the previous page would be sufficient, without this additional element, to establish that Edmund is my Reuben's father. Still, I think this information about the signatures is helpful, confirmatory evidence.
Table 1 below illustrates that my Reuben, and Edmund of Spotsylvania, wrote the capital "D" in their surname in the same way, and
Table 2 illustrates that their way of writing the letter was somewhat distinctive. One slight wrinkle
in this element of evidence is discussed in Table 3 at the bottom of the page. (All of the
"religious petitions" mentioned on this page are part of the collection of "Early Virginia Religious
Petitions, 1774-1802" on the Library of Congress's "American Memory" site.)
(hold your mouse pointer over a signature to see the date of the petition in which the
signature appears) A Wrinkle: Proof that genealogy is never simple
In addition to the above "Edmund Daniel" signatures whose capital "D" closely resembles the same
letter in the signature of my Reuben Daniel, another of the religious petitions on the Library of
Congress "American Memory" site (dated November 10, 1787) includes a very different
Edmond Daniel signature:
I believe, however, that this is the signature of Edmond Daniel, Jr. -- that is, the Edmond to
whom my Reuben Daniel served as guardian in the 1801 suit against Edmund Daniel's widow.
The odd way in which the capital "E" in the above signature is formed, and the writer's extreme
failure to stay on a straight line, make the signature look childish. (A glance at this entire
page of this petition in the American Memory collection will show that nothing about the
space provided for this signature required Edmond to write it in this way. After going to Early
Virginia Religious Petitions, 1774-1802, click on "Geographic Locations," then "Spotsylvania,"
then "November 10, 1787." The above signature is on page 1, in the right-hand column.)
Given that Edmond Jr. could have turned twenty-one years old in late 1801 and still needed a
guardian to sue earlier in that year, he could have been as old as seven in November 1787-- barely old
enough to write his name on the petition, if his father were out of the house when someone
brought the petition around for signing. Click here to return to "Reuben and Edmund DANIEL: Evidences"
Click here to return to my main page
Delete "NOSPAM" from the address before sending me e-mail.
Table 1
Signatures by my Reuben, of Orange County
Signatures by Edmund, of Spotsylvania County 
(from the 1811 document regarding the debt
that he assigned to his son)
(from a Nov. 5, 1790 religious petition,
Spotsylvania County) 
(from the 1819 bond with Joel Lewis and J.
Robins)
(from a Nov. 1, 1786 religious petition,
Spotsylvania County) Notice these similarities in the capital "D" in all of the above signatures: the same strong tendency to make an up-stroke before starting the backbone of the "D"; the same angle between the up-stroke and the backbone; essentially the same
degree of slant in the backbone; and the same degree of looping in the final curve, behind the
backbone.
Table 2
Other capital "D's" from contemporaneous religious petitions in Spotsylvania County
The capital "D's" in these twelve signatures that most nearly resemble the capital "D's" in the Daniels' signatures are those of
Thomas Davenport and Joseph Duerson (second from the bottom in both columns). Notice, however, that in both of those signatures, the final
loop of the "D" extends all the way through the body of the letter; whereas, in all of the Daniel
signatures, the end of the loop does not even enter the body. Also, both Mr. Davenport
and Mr. Duerson pulled the pen upward somewhat in completing their "D," whereas both of the
Daniels let the pen drop toward the bottom of the letter. The "D's" in the other ten signatures are obviously quite
different from those made by Reuben and Edmund.
Table 3
