A witness to a document typically is only indicating that they know who signed the document in question. A witness has to be of legal age and sound mind, but does not have to have any relationship to the person actually making out the document. It is possible that the witness knew the signer of the document and perhaps even read it for him if the signer wasn’t able to read or could not read the language the document was written in. Possibly, but not guarantees. The legal requirement to be a witness is usually to be of legal age.

Don’t draw too many conclusions about a person who only witnesses one of your ancestor’s documents. The witness just might have been another warm body in the office the same time as your ancestor.

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