[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: I & J



Beth Harris wrote:

A local museum would like to know why one of their samplers, dated 1773,
lacks a "J."  I'm thinking that the letters I & J might have been
interchangeable at that time but not sure.  Could anyone on the list
enlighten me?  I'll pass along the info to them.


Beth's surmise is right on the money.  The letters "I" and "J" are easily
confused especially in cursive handwriting.  Moreover the letter "J" is a
relative late comer to the alphabet-the Romans did not use it at all.
(Julius Caesar's given name was written as "Iulius.")

Assuming nothing has changed since my association ended, there are no "J"
Companies or Troops in the U.S. military.

More to the point for this List, in the 18th & 19th Centuries many offices
of government (such as County Clerks) would have a series of records
identified as Volume A to I and then K to Z.    Sometimes there would be a J
and sometimes there wouldn't be.  Many a researcher and clerk has looked
high and low for volume J of Deeds or Probate only to have someone point out
that Volume K began the day Volume I ended.

Paul R. Scott
Records Management Officer
Harris County, TX

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu

Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>