What doe fs or whatever it is mean when written after a county court entry? [closed]

Question

The registrars at some of the courts in the 1700's enter what looks like an "fs" after the county name when it is related to the court.  It may be the "Ss" but if so, does anyone know what it means?  I don't remember if it has only been on the wills in Pennsylvania or not, but I am feeling kind of "dumb" as I am not really sure of the letters!!! I am trying to do some transcriptions of several wills.

And example is on this will posted on FamilySearch. There is an example about 11 lines down on the left page.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G99B-J5HQ?i=426&wc=9PMZ-T3N%3A268493801%2C268527101&cc=1999196

The letters appear after Lancaster County each time it is appears as part of the Lancaster County court.

Thanks

Comments

I suspect it is an ampersand, &. If you replace it with “and” the sentence makes sense.

(Edit)

On second thought, perhaps not. A somewhat similar, but not identical, symbol is used elsewhere where & makes sense, but after the county name does not.

Another guess is that it is “Ls” which could be an abbreviation for legal stamp or legal seal.

Edit #2

I think I will retract all of this, and concur with Rick’s explanation.

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George [prior to your edit], the examples I see, such as on the second last line of the right hand page, are at the end of a sentence, followed by a full stop then a capital letter. How does an ampersand make sense in that context?

I don't know what it means, sorry BJ, but I wonder if it might not be "fs" but "ss". Double s was often written like that.

Answer 1

Hi BJ,

As Jim suggested in his comment above, I believe that it's actually an "SS" (written in old script in that particular transcription). I've seen "SS" following the county/state in many U.S. probate documents/transcriptions. Here's another example from the Jersey County, Illinois Will Records:

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939K-TB93-SJ

Here's what the Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries Blog indicates that Black’s Law Dictionary says about the "SS" abbreviation:

https://blog.mass.gov/masslawlib/legal-history/what-does-ss-mean/

Comments

Rick (and Jim), I agree about the old script and it's being ss.  I just looked at the link on the blog.  Probably the truth!  In use, but not sure why!

Thank you.  I think that is it!

Answer 2

I worked in the courts (Canada) for many years. Though there is no way to verify this, my best guess is that the FS is the initials of the clerk of Lancaster County. You will see that the words Lancaster County (aka the Court) appears connected to an action that was done. Swearing witness to will, endorsements etc, these things were done by the clerk of the court.