We are an eBay affiliate and may be compensated for clicks on links that result in purchases.

SHOELESS JOE JACKSON official Government document signed.

I am not aware if this has ever been shown on AML or not but thought people might be interested. This "signature" is the official U. S. Government WWI draft registration card of Joe Jackson that is on file in The National Archives. It can also be seen on ancestry.com. Since he had to appear before the deputy city clerk I cannot believe the official would have allowed Jackson's wife to sign. So it is my belief this is a genuine example of his signature but will defer to baseball experts.   I was being a bit lazy, but I think because of the importance of Joe Jackson I should include the rest of the card below.   The deputy city clerk is attesting that "I have witnessed his signature."   It is my belief the signature was made by Jackson himself and no other.  If his wife signed then the deputy city clerk committed a crime by attesting a signature not made by the person.  Had she signed he would have had Jackson himself make an X or other mark.  I just do not see some random government official signing a Federal military document if someone else signed it.  Otherwise it was a conspiracy involving the city deputy and for what purpose?  To save Jackson the embarrassment of having people know he couldn't sign his own name?  I think it was common knowledge that he could not read or write.  I am also sure that Jackson never thought a document such as this would ever be seen by anyone other than governmental officials.  In my view if there is an absolute certain Jackson autograph this is as close as they come.  That is my argument that the signature on this document is that of Jackson himself.   In any event I thought baseball fans on here might find it interesting.

Below is the portion signed by the city deputy clerk attesting that he witnessed Jackson sign the document.

Tags: Jackson, Joe, Shoeless

Views: 344

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mike Shepherd on February 19, 2015 at 7:25am

This is in fact very interesting Scott.  Thanks for sharing.

Permalink Reply by Null on February 19, 2015 at 7:30am

awfully nice for an "illiterate" 

Permalink Reply by terrier8HOF on February 19, 2015 at 9:24am

which one are you looking at?  the actual signature, far down the document does resemble the "drawn" signature that represented his authentic autograph.  he would copy it from his wife's writing, which is what it looks like he did here.  I think its authentic.

Permalink Reply by Scott Paul on February 19, 2015 at 9:37am

That is right and of course the rest of the writing is in the hand of the clerk, which was typical.

Permalink Reply by Null on February 19, 2015 at 12:43pm

Ok, did not realize the clerks would write these LOL. I thought this was supposed to be all in his handwriting.

Permalink Reply by Rick Meyer on February 19, 2015 at 1:05pm

I agree with what Terrior said. This was done in probably 1916 timeframe. There were many folks in those days that were illiterate. The clerks probably assisted him as they did many others. I think that signature is authentic and this is a good example of it.

Interesting discussion.

Permalink Reply by Scott Paul on February 19, 2015 at 2:23pm

It was my fault I should have mentioned that it was it was not written by him merely signed by him  In most cases the clerk would read the questions then the person answer while the clerk wrote it down.   The individual would then sign the document whose signature was then attested to by the clerk.

RSS

© 2024   Created by Steve Cyrkin, Admin.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Privacy Policy  |  Terms of Service