One of the mysteries of Baret's life is how she obtained at least the rudiments of an education, as her signature on later legal documents provides evidence that she was not illiterate. One of her biographers, Glynis Ridley, suggests that her mother might have been of Huguenot extraction, a group that had a higher tradition of literacy than was otherwise typical of the peasant classes of the time. Another biographer, John Dunmore, suggests that she was taught by the parish priest or taken on as a charity case by a member of the local gentry. Danielle Clode, however, notes that Jeanne did not sign the parish register for her father's death (or the birth of her godson in 1756). Her first known signature is in 1764, making it more likely she was taught to write by Commerson, perhaps to help him with his work. She always signed her own name 'Barret'.