Greece Reading Handwriting And Text

Most old records are handwritten. As you search old documents trying to find information for your ancestors, you may come across a handwritten record that seems impossible to read. Do not get discouraged. There are ways to get familiar with handwriting of individuals. Some suggestions follow:

Letters

Try to recognize one letter at a time. In the samples that follow here, over each handwritten letter has been typed its corresponding printed letter.
Try to find in the document something that you already know, such as the date or the name of the place where the record was created. This will help you recognize the letters of this particular writing.
If you do not know the date, check in other places of the document where this may appear such as at the bottom, next to the signature(s) where the date or the place are repeated; maybe they appear clearer there.
If you do not know the place, maybe it appears on the heading of the document where the name of the place is usually printed
You may want to take note and maybe make a list of the letters that you have recognized so you can refer to this list later.

Reading Old Handwriting Made Easy
Identifying Handwriting Letters

Sample of Documents

Some copies of old Greek documents are used here as samples, to assist you in recognizing the Greek old handwriting. Each document appears in two copies. The first copy of the document has over each word typed the same word. The second copy of the same document has over each letter the same letter typed. This will help in recognizing each letter of this particular handwriting. The various samples that are included here, have each of them a different handwriting, and are of various periods of time. Several samples have been used because the more individual handwritings you get familiar with, the easier you will recognize another person’s handwriting.