Is the Same Signature Enough?

If two signatures match, are the writers the same person?

On the surface the answer seems "yes." And on the surface it seems like the answer to this question would always be clear.

And probably if the handwriting is a match, the writers are the same person. Sometimes though, determining whether or not the handwriting for two signatures is a "match" is a subjective process, especially if the signatures are not carbon copies of each other.

The top two signatures are for the same person. The rationale for this belief is that image 1 and image 2 are taken from the pre-emption claim for John Lake. Lake's claim was completed in the mid-1860s. Clearly the same man as the claimant signed all the claimant documents in the file.

Image 3 certain looks like it was signed by the same man.  It was signed by a man who indicated he was of Chariton County, Missouri. My conclusion is that it was signed by the same man as the one who signed the pre-emption claim. My conclusion is not based simply on a comparison of the handwriting, although that is an important reason. But there is other reasons:

• There is only one John Lake in Chariton County, Missouri in the time period for both these documents
• Both of these documents involve a man who lived in Chariton County, Missouri
• The documents are from the same time period

That makes a pretty strong case for the signatures being the same person. 

Handwriting looking the same is strong evidence--but the other reasons are crucial as well. 

It never hurts to think about your conclusions and to challenge them. Sometimes your conclusion will not change...and sometimes it will.

Note: John Lake of Chariton County, Missouri, is my wife's ancestor. He was killed by Bushwackers towards the end of the Civil War, but that's another story.

I'm not certain the  Genealogy Standards address analyzing signatures and I'm not certain I conducted an exhaustive search, but I did outline my reasons. And I know that clear analysis is an important element of the  Genealogy Standards.

Killed by Bushwackers 1864--Getting Proof

Family tradition has maintained for years that John Lake was killed in Chariton County, Missouri, during the Civil War. His estate was appraised in 1865 which is consistent with a death during the War. Of course, the settlement of his estate makes no mention as to how he died and contemporary records being consistent with a family tradition is not sufficient proof that the tradition is true. There are no death records in Missouri during this time period and the Lake family didn't pass down letters, diaries, or other material that would help to substantiate the circumstances behind his death.

The story was not that John simply died during the war, he was killed by bushwackers.  The scenario makes for good drama and a wonderful story but genealogists usually long for a little more than family tradition and rumor. The different versions of the story were fairly consistent (being hung in a barn), but consistency among the differing versions doesn't necessarily prove anything more than consistency.

A reference on Google Books indicates that there's probably some truth to the story. It's also motivated me to do some more searching for references to this incident when I have time.

The image below contains the reference to John Lake:

United States., Scott, R. N., Lazelle, H. M., Davis, G. B., Perry, L. J., Kirkley, J. W., Ainsworth, F. C., ... United States. (1880). The War of the Rebellion: A compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate armies. Washington, D.C: Govt. Print. Off.--obtained on GoogleBooks http://books.google.com

The letter is dated 26 December 1864 and indicates that John Lake was one of three or four Union men who were killed by bushwackers. The incident happened on the previous Saturday and a December of 1864 calendar indicated that the date of the incident was 24 December 1864. Apparently there were rebel sympathizers in Chariton County and some violence as indicated in this report from E. J. Crandall.

The age of John is a little bit on the high side--he was not sixty years of age at the time of his death. However, there was only one John Lake in Chariton County and Bee Branch Township (where the family lived) is located in the northeastern part of the county. There seems little doubt that this is the person for whom I am looking.

One never knows where contemporary accounts of things will be located and never assume that your ancestor's name is not in a book.

I was fortunate that John Lake was mentioned by name--the others were not.

Stay tuned...we may have an update.

Reminder--we don't include complete citations on blog posts--just our personal preference. Complete citations are always included in Casefile Clues or you can learn about citations in Elizabeth Shown Mills' Evidence Explained. We always do include enough background information in blog posts that readers can find our original sources.If you think we don't, please fire off an email to me at mjnrootdig@gmail.com .