5 Alan Tully obtained the following results from Pennsylvania wills (1729-1774):

 

 

Percent Signing by Mark

 

Place

Period

Male

Female

Mean

Number

Chester Co.

1729-44

32%

54%

43%

312

 

1745-54

27%

81%

54%

328

 

1755-64

31%

73%

52%

333

 

1765-74

27%

56%

42%

413

Lancaster Co.

1729-44

37%

100%

68%

63

 

1745-54

40%

86%

63%

182

 

1755-64

35%

85%

60%

273

 

1765-74

36%

62%

49%

412

Source: Alan Tully, “Literacy Levels and Educational Development in Rural Pennsylvania, 1729-1775,” PH, 39 (1972), 304.

6 Lawrence Cremin reported the following results for Philadelphia:

 

Percent Signing by Mark

 

Period

Male

Female

N

1699-1706

20%

40%

50

1773-1775

18%

29%

136

Source: Cremin, American Education: The Colonial Experience (New York, 1974).