Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1748
I hope than I am using the proper terms in the following paragraph, but I think you can make sense of it in any case.
Today’s photo shows the foundation sill and a post in the ell of the Clapp Family barn. In the days of hewing each post and beam by hand, builders would shape posts and beams before putting the building together. In today’s photo each mortise on the foundation sill would accept the tenon from a post. And the mortise and tenon would be shaped to fit each other one at a time. Due to the nature of hand work, it was important to be sure the post’s tenon would enter the same hole it was designed for. So the builder marked Roman numerals on the post and on the corresponding side of the beam. These are called marriage marks. The straight lines of Roman numerals are easier to cut than the rounded forms Arabic numerals.
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