Illustrated manuscript reading
1673-04-09 (court date; death month/year not securely resolved)
National Records of Scotland, Lanark Commissary Court, CC14/5/9, images 24-26
Second manuscript pass · 10 September 2026
New readings and unchanged uncertainties are both recorded. A confirmed name or role does not by itself confirm a WikiTree identity or a relationship.
images 25-26, executor and appearance clauses
images 25-26, executor and appearance clauses
image 26, security clause
image 24, opening gutter
image 24, initial appointment formula
image 25, debt/account clauses
images 24-26, duplicate provenance
Follow the handwriting
The named participants here are administering an estate. The enlarged words help separate personal names from procedural language in a dense court hand. Read the action and office alongside each name: neither an appearance in court nor a caution obligation establishes family membership.
Follow the writing line. Ascenders rise above small letters; descenders fall below them. A neighbouring line can cross the word you are reading.
Count the short strokes. These are called minims. Joined i, m, n and u shapes can be ambiguous; compare a clear repeated word by the same clerk rather than guessing from a modern alphabet.
Separate reading from expansion. A contraction is not a fully written modern word. Square brackets retain doubtful letters or editorial additions. A familiar legal formula is a clue, not permission to fill a gap.
Then assess the relationship. Reading a name securely is not the same as proving kinship. Look for the actual role words and who they refer to.
Learn with the archive: Secretary-hand tutorial · Testament vocabulary.
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The reading desk
Choose a name or relationship below. Compare the original ink, a paper-free view and the same spelling in a secretary-hand teaching font. Open the reasoning only when you need it.
Proposed readingAlexr
The forename repeats in the estate proceedings. The maintained reading is Alexr Broun, not George Broun. Compare the compact ending with the alphabet while keeping the distinction between what is written and what the abbreviation expands to.
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Alexr
The white-background view suppresses paper colour; reviewed focus boundaries exclude separable neighbouring fragments where available. It does not restore missing strokes. Colour follows retained source pixels inside proposed letter groups, not a reconstructed pen path. Ambiguous crossings remain neutral where reviewed; other crossing ink may still belong to another line.
The font repeats the proposed spelling, not this clerk's handwriting. Similarity is a teaching aid, not confirmation; uncertainties remain in the reading above.
Expansion: Alexander
Confidence: High from the repeated administrator name; the expansion is not a literal transcription of extra ink.
Evidence boundary: Alexander Brown and John Neilson are administrators. Their offices are explicit; neither this abbreviation nor appointment as executor proves kinship to William Glasgow.
Teaching typeface: Joscelyn by Peter S. Baker, based on a different Renaissance secretary hand. SIL Open Font License. Source images remain separate and unchanged.
National Records of Scotland, CC14/5/9, image 26; Crown copyright
Choose a phrase to locate it in the manuscript. Only its outline is shown, so overlapping strokes stay readable.
On the page
... Compeirit personallie ... / Alexr broun and Jon neilsone ... / [following production wording unresolved] ...
In modern English
Alexander Brown and John Neilson appear personally in the estate proceeding as the executors dative; the following production wording is not securely resolved in this crop.
The two names occupy the line immediately below Compeirit personallie. Their capitals and descending g/J strokes distinguish the names from the tighter procedural script around them. The next line appears to continue an act of production, but the words previously rendered particular Inventar are not secure enough to quote or box. Neither highlighted name is accompanied here by son, brother or another family term.
Alexander Brown and John Neilson are the executors dative and participate in the estate's formal inventory administration.
Their participation does not identify either man as William Glasgow's relative or establish William's family.
High for the two names and their appearance in the proceeding; low for the unboxed production wording.
Slow reading
Compare the original strokes with the proposed reading. Tall or trailing strokes from neighbouring lines may enter a sample; the notes distinguish what is visible from what remains uncertain.
Phrase 01
Alexander Brown
Reading limits: Alexr is an abbreviation expanded as Alexander, and Broun is normalized as Brown. The prior George reading is superseded by the repeated form.
Phrase 02
John Neilson
Reading limits: Jon and neilsone are literal; John Neilson is the normalized personal name.
National Records of Scotland, CC14/5/9, image 26; Crown copyright
Choose a phrase to locate it in the manuscript. Only its outline is shown, so overlapping strokes stay readable.
On the page
... fand Williame neilsone / in biggar cautioner ...
In modern English
William Neilson in Biggar is provided as cautioner.
The name ends one line, while in biggar cautioner begins the next. The long descenders in the name and the two g letters in biggar must be retained when the words are enlarged. Cautioner is the operative role word: the surrounding clause concerns security for proper accounting. It describes a legal obligation, not a family relationship.
William Neilson of Biggar serves as cautioner for the administration.
The shared Neilson surname does not prove a relationship to John Neilson, and caution does not make William Neilson kin to the deceased.
High for the name, Biggar and cautioner designation.
Slow reading
Compare the original strokes with the proposed reading. Tall or trailing strokes from neighbouring lines may enter a sample; the notes distinguish what is visible from what remains uncertain.
Phrase 01
William Neilson
Compare in this hand: The spelling and letter pattern of neilsone can be compared with Jon neilsone in the administrators step.
Reading limits: The normalized name is William Neilson; the shared surname alone does not prove a relationship to John Neilson.
Phrase 02
in Biggar, cautioner or legal surety
Reading limits: Cautioner is a legal-security role; the phrase does not state kinship or prove that Biggar was William Neilson's birthplace.
Modern interpretation
This is William Glasgow's Lanark Commissary Court testament dative and inventory. The manuscript locality and death month remain obscured; Quothquan comes from the maintained index-based identification rather than a fresh reading of the gutter.
Alexander Brown and John Neilson are repeatedly named as executors dative and personally appear to produce and swear the inventory.
William Neilson in Biggar is the cautioner or surety. A shared surname does not prove that he was related to John Neilson, and none of these offices proves kinship to William Glasgow.
No spouse, parent, child, or sibling is securely named in the supplied entry.
Evidence and limits
Still open
LLM-assisted working transcription
Square brackets mark uncertainty, editorial expansions or missing text. Ellipses mark omitted or unresolved wording. Numbering identifies lines in this working reading, not official manuscript line numbers. This is not a complete diplomatic edition.
High for the correction to Alexander Brown, John Neilson as co-executor, William Neilson in Biggar as cautioner, the 9 April 1673 court date, and the absence of a securely read kinship clause. Low for the obscured opening locality/date and several procedural or account names.
Reviewed: 2026-09-10. Method: Codex fresh original-image name, role, and locality audit.
The full originals remain in the local research archive. Selected unaltered crops are shown above for reading and commentary, with separate switchable highlights. Image credit: Crown copyright, National Records of Scotland / ScotlandsPeople. Duplicate downloads are not independent evidence. Consult the original using the reference above through ScotlandsPeople.