Correct, Jay. The barn I referenced indeed had blocks under the lower end of the brace. I don't recall if the top plates had blocks or not, the bottoms did for sure, maybe 3 inch blocks also not clear if they were wedge shaped. It was on an unofficial barn tour with some other forum members, a connecting girt frame.
Let's not leave out butt cut with spikes, as an option. There was a lot of that in my area in the early 1900s.
