what is a notary 
a notary is a publicly commissioned official who serves as an impartial witness to the signing of a legal document document signings where the services of a notary are generally necessary are real estate deeds affidavits wills trusts powers of attorney bills of sale or other official transactional documents the main reason a notary is used is to deter fraud understanding the role of a notarya notary also referred to as a notary public can be used to create trusted documentation or that a transaction occured and was officially recorded for a document to be notarized it must contain a stated commitment the document must also contain original signatures from the parties involved before signing a document notaries ask for photo identification from the participating parties a notary can refuse to authenticate a document if they are uncertain about the identity of the signing parties or if there is evidence of fraud the document then receives a notarial certificate and the seal of the notary who witnessed the signings notaries cannot refuse to witness a document based on race nationality religion or sex notary historyaccording to the national notary association nna notaries were used as far back as 2750 b c e in egypt and sumeria called scribes by the egyptians these writers and witnesses documented much of the history of the ancient world the roman empire used notarii and scribae to witness and document everything from speeches to weather and to create official documents the first recognized notary was tiro a roman servant who developed a shorthand for recording speeches 2the chinese also used scribes to document events teachings log resource and labor data and help the state function with detailed accounting 3notaries accompanied christopher columbus on his voyages to assure king ferdinand and queen isabella that all discoveries were valid 4writer mark twain was a notary while salvador dali leonardo da vinci and calvin coolidge the 30th president of the united states were the sons of notaries coolidge remains the only president sworn into office by a notary his father 4women were not allowed to be notaries until the 1900s but now outnumber male notaries according to the nna 4