Signatures are often-overlooked scraps of information that yield not only obvious clues about literacy, but also subtleties like depth and quality of education and preferred names, spellings and pronunciations. They are also, in original documents, tangible traces of our forebears’ corporality — evidence that that they were once here.

This is the second in a series of posts featuring the signatures of men and women born before 1900, men and women who could not take even a basic education for granted.

• Peter Rountree (1836-??), 1877, from file of the estate of Milly Jones.

• Kernel Morris Jones (1851-??), 1877, from file of the estate of Milly Jones.

• Daniel C. Suggs (1865-1936), 1914, from application for letters of administration of the estate of George W. Suggs.

• Georgia Crockett Aiken (1875-1939), 1914, from the application for letters of administration of the estate of John Aiken.

• Dr. William A. Mitchner (1882-1941), 1930, from the death certificate of Charles Barnes of Wilson.

• Undertaker Columbus E. Artis (1886-1973), 1930, from the death certificate of Fabie [Fereby] Artis of Wilson.

• Dr. Matthew S. Gilliam (1885-1932), 1930, from the death certificate of Fabie [Fereby] Artis of Wilson.