Daily Ancestorne savoir signer
Ne savoir signer means "could not sign"; qui ont déclaré ne savoir signer says the parents or witnesses could not write their names.
A French royal declaration of 1736 required the priest, the people present and the witnesses to sign each entry, make a cross, or state that they did not know how to sign. The phrase is the record of that statement.
It is a direct clue to literacy. The Quebec population register of the PRDH records for each person whether he or she could sign, and you can watch a family learn to write over the generations.
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How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "ne savoir signer." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/french/ne-savoir-signer. Last checked 2026-10-28.