Debbie Hall Daugherty - Feb 4, 2012

All,
I was reading an article published by Ancestry.com by Dr. Hedy Weiner who was a Harvard graduate who specializes in graphology or hand writting analysis. On a whim, I contacted her and asked if she would be willing to analze the different documents either handwritten by our John Hall or just his signature at the bottom of a document or record. Surprisingly she agreed, for a fee of course (it was worth it)!

I threw in a document I really didn't think was our John Hall but wanted her thoughts and she agreed it was not his writing. The only error made was she read "his loss or partial loss of his HAND and I believe it was his LAND. If you obtained copies of the letters from John Hopkins Library, Special Collections, you know he wrote incessantly about land. The handwritting was the same on the multiple documents I sent her, some were signed John Hall of Joshua, some were just John Hall.

I will copy and paste her report into t his document. If nothing else it is a fun read. I thought it would be really neat to get a feel for his personality above and beyond what we have gleaned.

I agree with the doubts you have about the document about which you question the signature, and also question the writing. It is unlikely that the July 25th document was your ancestor’s signature. Signatures are the most stable aspects of handwriting, once you get into the twenties, and this is too divergent. Actually, it looks like someone trying to imitate his signature.

Scribes were used a lot, even by people who could write well. People back then had social hands and personal hands, much like we have sympathy card writing and grocery list writing, and sometimes they diverged a lot, but this diverges too much in a careful hand. The left margin is much wider than anything your ancestor did in other writings, and the ductus or writing line is much pastier.

The Sept. 10, 1781 letter differs from the others in the relative emphasis on the middle zone of handwriting, much more pronounced than in other specimens. This may be due to the “loss of my hand or part therof,” not likely his right hand, but he is certainly focusing more in the present and everyday in this letter. Hurting his hand must have made everyday tasks much more difficult. The writing here also slants more to the right than other documents, which is a sign of emotional reactivity. He was probably still frustrated and upset by his hand problems. However the NB’s are returning toward his normal script, save the last two lines on the first one, which may have been written by someone else.

One of the methods I used, the Piani Trait System, looks at four areas of life and how one’s interests and talents, along with conflicts, manifest in each area. John Hall had a very clear preference for planning and control. This is confirmed by Rhythmic Balance Analysis (RBA), which shows him as goal oriented, self-motivated and able to plan ahead and keep things in perspective. He did not allow changing moods or outside influences to distract him. He was quite self-disciplined, not at all spontaneous.

However, he was fairly conservative in his plans. He would not create something totally new, but rather combine existing ideas in new ways.

He was future-oriented (i dots, writing to right edge of paper). While he was interested in ideas of right and wrong (slim upper loops sometimes pointed), he was equally or more interested in accomplishing things in the material world (lower loops), and his goals may have involved business more than religion or philosophy, given the relative length of upper and lower loops.

He liked to figure out how to do what should be done, but not actually do it. He had a bit of conflict in this area because he needed feedback in determining which goals to set or which direction to pursue. He didn’t want anyone to tell him what to do, he just wanted feedback.

He was ambitious, but only when he felt secure about his foundation. He was not an entrepreneur or a gambler. He could get excited and enthusiastic about goals, but he needed some push or support to get going on them. Once decided, little could deter him (lower loops length before or without curving, loopless y’s, sometimes clubbed). Thus, planning was the area of his greatest interest and talent, but he also had some stress about it.

One of the reasons that he may have felt insecure about his goals comes from the area of his ideas and mental processes. His word spacing in combination with his slant indicates he was a clear thinker, not influenced by the passions of the moment. He was quite interested in ideas and talking about ideas; it was his way of developing them, a trait we call Interactive Thinking. Some people largely work ideas out in their heads, only presenting them when they have decided on a course of action. Others, like John Hall, need to develop their ideas through discussion or, occasionally, writing them out.

Some people like to figure things out for themselves. They are analytical and may even reinvent the wheel, but they can deal with areas in which they have no experience and even enjoy it. Others learn best through having some hands-on instruction. People with this Experiential trait rarely forget once they’ve learned something. They can jump into a similar situation and hit the ground running. However, sometimes goals involve things with which one is not familiar. In such cases the Experiential thinker has an added burden, since it is difficult to figure out how to do it. This is why I think John Hall sometimes might have had a difficult time deciding on a goal.

When you have the traits of Interactive Thinking and Experiential learning, you need to have people to help you develop your ideas and teach you how to implement them. John Hall appears to have relied on a small group he trusted. If they had the necessary knowledge, he would have been fine since he was a very determined man, single-minded in completing his tasks.

He was generally a well-organized person whose perceptions, actions, feelings and thinking were integrated, thus producing behavior marked by moderation, calmness and self-control (RBA). Thus his stress in the area of goals was not observable to others. However, his lower zone loops sometimes entangled with the upper zone loops of the line below, which indicates that he may have sometimes wasted his energies by getting involved in too many activities. This is a strong sign, yet the rest of his writing does not confirm it. My guess is that he sometimes allowed his enthusiasms to overtake him (long t bars), spending too much time thinking and discussing possibilities.

In terms of the Piani Trait System, he had stress in three of the four areas of life. The only area that was low stress was the social arena, in which he had the least interest. He was no bon vivant, he most likely had a small group of people he trusted and was only interested in socializing with those he cared about, or if need be, for business. He liked but was not dependant on socialization, and only with a select few. RBA confirms that he was slightly introverted and self conscious, keeping his emotions well under control, maintaining a calm, tactful, objective exterior in all matters. He respected others’ privacy as much as his own, and was not the type to join a group or visit someone without an invitation.

His high, often slim and pointed upper loops indicate a concern with right and wrong, and he had firm standards which probably excluded many people from his inner circle. Some people can work and socialize with all types of people and enjoy it. They have a large circle of friends and don’t need a best friend. Others, like John Hall, only admit a small number into their inner circle. The word spacing also indicates that he was reserved and did not let many people get close to him.

That strange loop at the end of the signature is in the area that includes social interaction. He had some anxieties about himself, he was probably hard on himself, and this may have come from a father who was absent or withholding and a mother who was more present but somewhat critical, given the personal pronoun I. This insecurity may have been the reason for his reserve and even the evasion shown in his circle letters.

Signatures portray us as we want people to see us. When a signature differs from the script, it tells us how the person wants to be seen, not how s/he is. In John Hall’s case, possibly he wanted to be seen as more of a social, down to earth type than he was. The middle zone or mundane are of writing (small letters) relates to everyday life: the presentation of self, expression or control of emotions, ego needs, interactions, and acting out moral principles. Notice that this area is a bit larger, relative to the upper zone, in the signature than in the script.

Loops indicate imagination or emphasis on an area, an allowing of energy there. For example, large lower loops, depending on other factors in handwriting, indicate interest in the material and physical aspects of life. Wide loops on l’s and h’s indicate an imagination that goes outside conventional ideas. Tall loops indicate interest in the abstract. Thus I’m guessing that this unusual loop which starts out in a normal stroke we’d call a generosity stroke, yet comes back and brings what it finds in the mundane down to the lower zone indicates he was concerned with something related to the middle zone of writing: getting things done, and social interaction.

The mystery loop at the end of the signature is like a big stone or stop sign. It starts out going toward others or the future, but brings the energy back to self and shows holding in one of those areas. Given his concerns and emphasis, perhaps it was to show that he could be trusted, especially to given the evasiveness shown in the circle letters, or as more social than he was. My intuition is that he was a private person and this was a sort of bolster against or limitation on general social interaction. He was reserved but gracious (form level of writing, general roundness and word and letter spacing), and did not invite familiarity.

Capitals in the script are well formed and of reasonable size, showing that he had enough self confidence that others would respect him. He was careful and thoughtful, likely someone that people respected for his solid, pleasant but reserved demeanor. He was not the kind of leader that everyone automatically turns to in a situation to chart the course. He lacked the decisiveness and degree of self confidence of natural leaders. However, he could have been a peer leader, the kind of person people would like in a situation where they all wanted input and recognition.

What he didn’t enjoy as much was making things happen himself in the present. Although it was important to him to accomplish things tangibly, he had considerable stress about it. It seems the stress would come from his determination and focus on what he wanted, while he did not enjoy actually doing things that much, preferring to discuss and plan. He also probably believed that if you do something, you should do it right. His thoroughness likely compelled him to do things he found tedious or uninteresting.

Summary

John Hall appears to have been reserved, goal-oriented, and self-disciplined. While pleasant to all, he was selective about those with whom he socialized and partnered. He emphasized the rational and intellectual more than the emotional aspects of experience. He liked planning much more than implementing, but his beliefs and determination required that he be very thorough in implementing his plans himself, if necessary.

I hope you enjoy.
Debbie Hall Daugherty