Ancestral signatures can be helpful in comparing two people of the same name or just to have something a little more personal from a relative. Packets of court papers (either for estate settlements or other types of court action) may contain actual documents signed by a relative. Signed receipts for money received from an estate are one good place to get a signature of your relative. The illustration comes from disbursements made in a partition suit in Illinois in 1907.
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It’s also nice to know that our ancestors could read and write! I’m a collector of ancestor signatures. My most treasured document is that of the original deed, with signatures, when my G-grandmother’s many siblings sold her land after the death of their father in 1889.
I’ve actually been surprised how many of mine could apparently read and write. I’m still working on translating letters my uncle wrote from Germany in the 1870s.