When Barbara Haas of Warsaw, Illinois, executed her will in 1902, she did not actually sign her name. Instead she made her mark.
She actually made three “x”s but that’s not really the point.
Some may be tempted to assume that Barbara was illiterate based on this signing of her will. That’s not the correct conclusion to draw from this piece of information. It simply means that she made her mark on her will in 1902. She could have been told to “make her mark” and was complying with that request. She perhaps was only physically able to write an “x” instead of her actual name. Barbara’s actual signature appears numerous times in various local records in Hancock County, Illinois, where she lived beween 1850 and her death in 1903. She could definitely write her own name and her 1860 census enumeration indicated she was able to read and write–although that was most likely in German.
The takeaway? One instance of mark-making does not mean the writer was unable to write their name at all.
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