When researching the children of Jacka & Elizabeth Gilbert I found 3 marriages for Abraham. When trying to sort out which one belonged to my couple resorted to comparing signatures to help identify the different Abrahams. It?s been a long time since I have worked with signatures and I had overlooked how valuable a tool it can be when trying to nut out a mystery. After a fair amount of research with assistance from others I came to the conclusion that each different Abraham couple represented a different cluster of Jacka descendants, which may or may not be related further back in time. Unfortunately none of them conveniently come from Sithney, where my Abraham Jacka had originally been baptised. (I have bolded the names of the signatures that I used for comparison purposes.)

Couple 1
Abraham JACKA(St Buryan) & Eliz. GEORGE(St Buryan) married 1795 St Buryan Witness - William MATHEWS

Elizabeth JACKA (St Buryan) & William MATHEWS (St Buryan) married 1800 St Buryan witness ? Mary JACKA

Mary Jacka(St Buryan) and William Maddern(Paul)married 1800 St Buryan, witness Abraham Jacka
These 3 Jackas appear to be related they are all from St Buryan, and the signatures of those highlighted appear to match.
Couple 2
Abraham JACKA(St Erth) & Ann MILLDRUM(St Hilary) married 1796 St Hilary. Unfortunately I have not been able to find this Abraham signing a second document to help me confirm his signature

I have looked up the following sibling marriages and compared the signatures from
1. Thomas Jacka(Sithney) & Anna Moyses married 1790 Wendron (Abraham?s older brother who signed as groom
2. William Jacka(Germoe) & Margaret Wood(Germoe)(Abraham?s second eldest brother), witness - Thomas Jacka also signed but as witness
3. Elizabeth Jacka(St Erth) & William Jelbart(St Levan)(Abraham?s oldest sister) married 1800 St Erth witness Thomas Jacka(Thomas? signature does appear to be slightly different to those of the two previous marriages but still looks the same even excluding the missing jnr suffix? I have not worried about the suffix as I am assuming it was no longer used after his father died.)
All of the above Thomas Jackas? appear to be the same person, unfortunately Abraham does not appear in any of them.
4. Abraham JACKA marries Ann the witness for his marriage is John JACKA, see next marriage listed for more detail
5. John Jacka(St Erth) & Mary Limbrick( Helston) married 1800 in Helston (possibly Abraham?s second eldest brother) witness - Peter HAMMILL
(John Hammill may have been Mary?s first husband as there marriage on the OPC site for a John Hammill and a Mary on 28-Mar 1793 with a Peter Hammill as a witness however when I compared the two Peter Hammill signatures in the Parish Registers the didn?t look very similar but this could be for a number reasons including the type of nib on the pen. )
6. Joseph Jacka (St Erth) & Charity BERRYMAN (St Erth) married 1898 St Erth (Abraham?s younger brother) there doesn't appear to any Jacka relatives listed, there is an Edwd Rawlings but he seems to have signed a lot of marriages so may be someone tied with the church rather than the families, including his younger brother James Jacka.
7. James Jacka(St Erth) and Eleanor Hammel(St Erth) married 1800 St Srth (Abraham?s youngest brother)as well as Edwd Rawlings signing as witness Peter HAMMILL.
8. Anne Jacka ? I haven?t yet been able to establish if she married

Abraham?s father?s will in 1796 ? as a tool to establish relationships
In Thomas JACKA?S (senior) will that there was no mention of a daughter either married or single with a forename Mary, see below.
Transcription of the probate for Thomas Jacka father of Abraham Jacka
(Abstract of Will of Thomas Jacka, Yeoman of St Erth, Cornwall. Proved in the Court of Exeter. Reference:IR 26/339/13)
Date of the Probate or Admin & Sum Sworn - 1796, May 4th, Under ?300
Name and description of Testator or Intestate - Thomas Jacka of St Erth, Yeoman
Names & places of Abode of the Executors or Administrators - John, Joseph & James Jacka, Residuary Legatees, sons of John Jacka, The remainder of his goods
Auxiliary Legatees -
- Abraham Jacka, son, One hundred Pounds
- Elizabeth Jacka, Daughter, Fifty Pounds
- Ann Jacka, Daughter, Fifty Pounds

The Will helps to establish the following relationships:-
son - Abraham
daughters - Elizth, Ann Jacka
3 sons - John, Joseph, James
witnesses - Thomas Ellis, James Otey

This further supports the notion that Abraham JACKA from couple 1 who had a sister named Mary is probably not a descendant of Thomas JACKA & Elizabeth GILBERT.
It would appear that according to the OPC site they had the following children:-
Child 1 ? 1800 in St. Hilary, Anne JACKA to Abraham & Mary Anne
Child 2 ? 1805 in St. Hilary, Mary Elizabeth JACKA to Abraham & Mary Anne
Child 3 ? 1807 in St. Hilary, Mary Elizabeth JACKA to Abraham & Anne

There was an Abraham Jacka & Ann Jacka who both resided in Relubbas who were buried in St Hilary according to the OPC site and were buried as follows:-
? Abraham buried 26 Jan 1825 in St Hilary aged 55 (this would give him a d.o.b. of about 1770, which would fit well with the 1769 baptism at Sithney for Abraham son of Thomas & Elizabeth.)
? Ann buried 19 Aug 1820 in St Hilary aged 49


Couple 3
Abraham Jacka(Paul) & Margery Blewett(St Levan) married 1810 St Levan
It would appear that Margery Jacka, wife of Abraham jnr, was buried at St Levan, 17 July 1812 [the implication of the 'jnr' is that there was also an Abraham Jacka senior in the same area. He isn't necessarily the father of Abraham junior, though.]
As this Abraham Jacka was from Paul, according to the marriage entry, perhaps he was the Mousehole man whose burial I mentioned above. Another older Abraham Jacka, also from Mousehole, was buried at St Buryan in 1820 (see the OPC site).
Note I was not able to find any offspring and therefore descendants for this couple


Conclusion
Couple two has the Abraham Jacka that is related to my Thomas Jacka & Elizabeth Jacka.

Following up on the signatures has also led me other areas for further investigation including a Mary Lambicks first husband and the need to try and find out what happened to Ann Jacka and whether she got married.

Cheers, Sandra