How to tell if two signatures are the same

Kim writes:

I have another query regarding my family tree which I would like help with. However, this could be a very simple answer - depending on whether you consider the signatures on the marriage entries to be the same person or different people.

Let me explain…

My 4x great-grandfather Edward Hewitt was baptised in St Marys Portsea in Hampshire on 21 September 1806, the son of Robert Hewitt (Hewett) and Ann Hart, who were married in St Thomas, Bedhampton, Hampshire on 6 July 1783.

I thought (together with several other trees on Ancestry) that Robert was baptised on 4 March 1764 in St Thomas Portsmouth, the son of Robert Hewett senior and Ann Stradling. They had eight children between 1761 and 1778, three of whom have the second first name of Grigg: Henry
Grigg Hewitt in 1761, Catherine Grigg Hewitt in 1771 and Sarah Grigg Hewitt in 1773.

I have now found another marriage of Robert Hewitt and Sarah Simons on 27 November 1782 whose children also include one with the second first name of Grigg, Sally Grigg Hewitt in 1788. I therefore feel that this Robert is the son of Robert Hewett and Ann Stradling.

However I am unable to disentangle him from my ancestor Robert Hewitt who married Ann Hart as I cannot find another baptism.
Robert Hewitt (Hewett) signed on both marriages. Do you consider that it is the same man? I am unsure as the quality is not good.

If they are the same, then this is a case of bigamy: he had two wives (Sarah Simons in November 1782 and Ann Hart in July 1783) and two families at the same time. If they are different then I need help in tracking down a baptism of the second Robert.
(There is also a will on Ancestry of Ann Hewett (Stradling) which mentions a son Robert and the name of Grigg. However the handwriting is beyond me and I cannot understand it.)
 

David replies:

The first thing to say is that the two signatures are not similar enough to conclude that they relate to the same individual. The way that the b and the H are formed, and the crossing of the t’s all show major differences and, although we shouldn’t pay too much attention to the spellings of names, I think that in this case, the different spellings are significant.

There were evidently at least two Robert Hew(e/i)tts active in the Portsmouth area at around the same time. One, who married Sarah Simmons at St Mary, Portsea in 1782 had at least seven children baptised between 1784 and 1798 and the other, who married Anne Hart in Bedhampton in 1783, had at least nine children baptised between 1783 and 1806.

The fact that one of Robert and Sarah’s children was called Sally Grigg Hewett would certainly suggest that he was the Robert who was baptised at St Thomas, Portsmouth in 1764, the son of Robert and Ann Hewett, who, as you noted, also had children with the middle name Grigg.

And the proof that this is the case comes from the will of Ann Hewett (née Stradling) who, writing in May 1800 (the will wasn’t proved until 1817), made a bequest to ‘the child and children of my late son Robert Hewett’.

Your Robert, the father of Edward (baptised in 1806) was clearly still alive at this time, so Ann can’t be his mother. She must be the mother of the other Robert, who is probably the Robert Hewett who was buried at St Mary, Portsea on 13 March 1800. In fact, it’s quite possible that her son’s death was what prompted Ann to write her will.

The question now is, if the 1764 baptism isn’t your Robert, when and where did he come from? The only other roughly contemporary Hampshire baptism I can see of a Robert Hewett took place in Hartley Wintney in 1756. As this is about 40 miles from Portsmouth, it’s not exactly a strong candidate but it’s worth investigating further.

Conclusion:

As is so often the case in family history one answer leads to another question. However, David Annal’s experienced eye analysing the two signatures was able to provide use insights to indicate that they are the signatures of two different men… and consequently that this isn’t evidence that Kim’s 5x great-grandfather was a bigamist.

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