• Notaries can be traced back to ancient Egypt when they were known as scribes. The first recognized notary was Tito, a Roman slave during the ancient Roman Empire.

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• As European explorers began searching the far reaches of the globe, notaries went along for the ride. European monarchies used notaries to document all discovered treasures. When Columbus set sail for the Americas in 1492, he did so with notary Rodrigo de Escobedo in tow.

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• American notaries didn’t get off to a great start. Thomas Fugill was the first New World notary when he was appointed head record-keeper of the New Haven Colony in 1639. Fugill was excommunicated and returned to England in 1646 after it was learned he falsified records.

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• Following his surrender at Appomattox, Confederate General Robert E. Lee took an amnesty oath before notary C.A. Davidson swearing loyalty to the United States and its laws. The oath was misplaced before Lee received his pardon, and his citizenship was never restored in his lifetime. Lee received his citizenship posthumously restored by Congress in 1975 following the rediscovery of the notarized amnesty oath in State Department records.

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• Vice President John Calvin Coolidge Jr. was visiting his family’s farm in Vermont during the summer of 1923 when then-President Warren G. Harding unexpectedly passed away. John Calvin Coolidge Sr., a notary public and justice of the peace, administered the Oath of Office to his son in the family’s parlor, marking the only time a president has been sworn in by a notary public. President Coolidge was sworn in a second time upon his return to Washington, D.C. to avoid any potential controversy around a state official administering a federal oath.

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• Emily Calkins Stebbens was one of the first - if not the first - female notaries when commissioned by Iowa governor William M. Stone in 1866. Clara Foltz and Marilla Ricker, renowned for their advocacy during the women’s rights movement, served as the first female notaries in California and the District of Columbia, respectively. It wasn’t until the rise of urbanization in the late 1800s that demand for notaries prompted widespread access for women.

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• He may not be in the Hall of Fame, but you can bet Pete Rose had his own Wheaties box. In order to appear on the “Breakfast of Champions,” baseball’s all-time hits leader had to sign and swear before a notary that he’d eaten the cereal since he was a child.​