"The Book of Me, Written by You" - Handwriting

The prompt for the week is:    

Handwriting

The Brief:

• Add to your Book of Me an example of your handwriting.
• Share some examples of your ancestors - parents, Grandparents, etc
• Has your handwriting changed over time?
• Perhaps include some samples of younger generations?
• In this digital age our descendants will marvel at our handwriting for very different reasons when compared to us marvelling at our ancestors handwriting. We take for granted that we can probably write. That in the past was not a given right.

Handwriting is something I find interesting. Upon starting to look into the family's history, I found many of my ancestors beyond my great grandparents did not actually know how to read or write. However, the later generations do know how to do this but most of the time our handwriting is really hard to read but this could because of our history - if someone cannot read or write how are they to teach the next generation?

On my mother's side, at the moment, I do not have any handwriting samples except for my mother's. However, I am looking into getting some paperwork (declaration of intention and deeds) which I am hoping that will have some handwriting after my great grandparents started to live in the US. This is because before this, my family, on both sides, was trying to survive rather than being killed because of the wars and having their countries be overrun by other countries. Education and writing was not high on their list of things to do. 

This being said, so far I do have a copy of my Great Grandfather, Apolonius Jagodzinski, WW2 Registration card which he had to sign.

Sample of my mother, Jo Ann Gauquie Schmitz, handwriting:

My mother wrote this in 1989 on Jo Ann's schedule for school.

On my father's side, I was able to so far obtain my great grandfather, Adam Wojtkowski, WW2 registration which has his signature on it.

My grandmother, Jean Wojtkowska Schmitz, actually signed one of the Christmas cards a few years before her death.

My father, Matthew Gerald Schmitz, signature on a recent Christmas card.

My handwriting has changed over time. Please see the different years as examples.

1982 or 1983 - Report on Space and Space Travel

Mid 1980s - Report on immigration old and new

 

1994 - Instructions during college for a presentation. Even today in 2014, my handwriting still looks the same.

As you can see, I've had slight variations on my writing. When I was in 3rd grade, I had much neater handwriting, but the teacher told me I had to make my handwriting bigger and I had to be quicker. In doing that I ended up getting more sloppy and harder to read.

  Check back for the continuation of "The Book of me, Written by You" series.