James Lewis signatures

[Flook]

Could the 1827 signature be by the same hand as the other 3 or am I looking through rose-tinted spectacles? The other 3 signatures are all definitely by the same man.

 

[Chimp]

Where the tails on the J's and L's start and finish I would say yes. Although, where the w flows into the i (Lewis) on the first one is a little lower, but that may be due to him having more practice over the years. Same can be said for the e into the s (James)

 

[AnnB]

I agree with Chimp, they certainly look similar to me, taking into consideration how all our signatures change as we get older, and how hurried (or not) we are to sign something.

Ann

 

[gillyflower]

I would say they were the same person.

 

[mugwortismy cat]

I'd say so Flook, it also seems to me that he was more tense/nervous for the first two, and more relaxed/confident for the last two ... but perhaps I am over-interpreting

 

[Flook]

Blow me, this is worrying. I'm still a bit agnostic about the first one because if it is the same then it fills an enormous gap in my tree - but I only want it to be right. I'm now verging on calling it 'a strong possibility' at the moment but I'm open to any dissenters.

Thank you all for your informed contributions so far….anyone else got an opinion?

P.S. @ mugwortismycat..the first 2 would be his first 2 marriages (he was born in 1807) and the last 2 are the marriages of his daughter from his first marriage and a son from his second marriage.

 

[MollyMay]

Well I concur with everyone else, they look like the same hand to me.

 

[Flook]

"I'm reviewing, the situation…." and other such ditties. The number of expert witnesses is definitely stacking up in favour…. This could make a real difference to my tree. I've known about this entry for 40 odd years but I've never had enough of his other signatures to compare with this one until quite recently.

I'll be back.

 

[Sandiep]

look same to me.........(mind you my signature seems to vary was really pleased when they changed from signatures to pin numbers)

 

[Ma-dotcom]

I concur, Chimp said it well. You couldn't get much closer than these signatures could you?

 

[Flook]

So I promised to be back.

I have always been missing my GGGGFather’s first marriage. With your collective help with the signatures it seems that the trail for James’s missing first marriage is now this>

1841 Census [HO 107, Piece 731, book 6, folio 43, p. 11].
2 Crown Place, Crown Court, Temple Bar, Strand, Westminster.
James Lewis, 25, Bookseller, not born in same county.
Elizabeth Lewis, 20, not born in same county.
Mary Lewis, 10, born in same county.
G.M [i.e. W] Lewis, 1, born in same county.

After many decades I managed to track down Mary at her marriage to William Daniels in April 1860 – age 29. She then appears in the 1861 census as aged 31, born St Pancras; in 1871 aged 41, born St Pancras and in 1901 [as Mary Greenwood], aged 66, born St Pancras. She died in Southwark Infirmary in January 1908 when her age was given as 73. I’m quite happy that these are one and the same person.

So her baptism was the difficulty because there wasn’t one that matched in c1831 (and, not least, because other children in the same enumeration of the 1841 census seem to have been given their exact age). Anyway the only possible baptism was>

St Pancras Parish, 6 July 1828.
Mary, daughter of James & Mary Lewis, Collier Street [St Pancras]. Father’s occupation: Book Binder [He was connected with the book trade all his life].

This leads to James’s marriage to Mary Norman at St Martin-in-the-Fields: 22nd July 1827. This was the signature that was worrying me.

So thank you to everyone who compared the signatures. I’m now going to enter this as "probably" James Lewis’s first marriage.