Name Thomas on a Marriage Bond

[andrewdwilliams]

Hello all!

There's a surname on a marriage bond that I can't quite decipher. It appears twice: once, where it has been written by the clerk, and a second time in a sort of signature.

The first name is clearly Thomas. The surname could be Jefsor, Tefsor, Tetsor, Tetser, Jepsor, or any number of other possibilities. I would appreciate it if some others could have a look and make a guess. He is likely to have lived in the Culworth area of Northamptonshire, and was alive in 1795.

Thanks.

[Greensleeves]

Looks like Jessop to me, using the  long 's' which was frequently combined with a short 's' for 'ss'.  However at that time spelling wasn't standardised which means you could find the name spelled in all sorts of different ways.

Regards
GS

[lizdb]

I would say Jessop too (I thought it before I read your post Greensleeves, but you were quicker at typing than me!)

[Greensleeves]

Great minds, etc, Liz 

[andrewdwilliams]

Ah, yes. Brain fade. I think I was thrown off by the longer s and regular s being used together in the middle of the word. I thought it was typical for the regular s to only be used at the end of words. I'll have a search and see if I can turn anything up.

Thanks both of you.

[andrewdwilliams]

I appear to have found a match in Thomas Jessop, born in Culworth on 2 October 1751. I love it when a query like this gets resolved so easily. Thanks all.

[Greensleeves]

There weren't any hard and fast rules regarding spelling in those days.  It wasn't until a lot later that spelling became more 'fixed', up until which time it was not possible to mis-spell anything -  you could spell it however you liked.  Which of course just adds to our problems when trying to track down people in our FTs.

Glad you've found a potential match, and glad to have been of assistance,

Regards
GS