Curious---Tad left or right handed?

[RJNorton]

(01-26-2016 12:24 AM)Angela Wrote:  I dont have access to it right now, but would not Julia Tafts diary/book make mention of it if Tad was left handed. She observed the Lincoln children closely and spend a lot of time with them.

I think this is a good observation, Angela. As far as I know there is no mention of Tad being left-handed in that book.

Can one tell if a person is left-handed from their handwriting? I can think of at least two known examples of Tad's handwriting from the White House years, but are these really his writing? Or did someone else write them for him? I wonder because I have read in Ruth Painter Randall's Lincoln's Sons that Tad did not learn to write until after the assassination. So I am not sure specifically if Tad could/could not write during the 1861-1865 period.

Randall writes, "Mrs. Lincoln made several statements indicating he (Tad) did not know how to write when he was in the White House."

In Lincoln's Sons Randall gives one authentic example of Tad's signature from a document dated July 31, 1867. I scanned it - it is very small. Maybe someone can make it larger without making it blurry (I tried).