X is for his or her mark (#AtoZChallenge)

X is for his or her mark (#AtoZChallenge)

Do you have early documents where an X is placed for a signature denoting his or her mark?  I have many of these, mostly by women, as reading and writing was uncommon among the 'ordinary' folk.

William Connor & Mary Cameron marriage 1853 New South Wales

The above Marriage Registration is of my great grandparents William Connor and Mary Cameron at Bartie's Farm near Hinton New South Wales in 1853. As you can see on the right-hand side Mary Cameron made her mark of an X, so signifying her agreement to the marriage.

I have often thought of Mary and her inability to read and write, she had a very hard life after William died in 1875 and it must have been incredibly difficult to understand what was going on around her at times.

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This post is part of the 2015 Blogging from A to Z Challenge. My theme is Names: First Names from My Family File. Stay tuned for the rest of the alphabet, and if you'd like to check out the other A to Z participants, simply click here.