Ezek.

Ezek. is a clerk's shortening of the given name Ezekiel. Busy writers cut common first names down to a few letters, often raising the last letters above the line, and the habit runs through deeds, wills, tax lists and census pages.

Ezekiel is an Old Testament name, and Bible-reading families of early America used it freely. A full spelling in a will, deed or later census confirms the name, and also shows how the family itself spelled it.