Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Rew Family of Selworthy

"Cast in stone" does give one the feeling of accuracy and I searched and searched for my 2x great grandmother Elizabeth Rew all over North Devon as the tombstone of John Pincombe and Elizabeth Rew reads quite distinctly as Native of Devon. I was trying to come up with a reason for Elizabeth Rew and her eldest son John Pincombe to be missing from the 1841 census at Molland (her husband John, second son William Robert and daughter Elizabeth were all on the census in 1841 there).

Finding the will of her father John Rew was most helpful in that regard


Recorded: 21May 2005, Elizabeth Kipp
Source: The National Archives – 38.pdf
Type of record: Will – John Rew, Yeoman, Bishopsnympton
Dated: 10 Mar 1848
Read: Electronic File
Probate 11/2072


This is the last Will and Testament
of me, John Rew, of Bishops Nympton in the County of Devon, Yeoman. First I desire
that my body may be privately and decently interred without any funeral pomp and at as
little expense as possible in the Church yard belonging to the Parish of Selworthy in the coun
ty of Somerset and as near to the remains of my late wife as can be. I give and bequeath unto
each and everyone of my daughters Mary Watts Sarah May Charlotte Griffins and Eliza
beth Pincombe the sum of five pounds of lawful money of Great Britain and I direct
that the same Legacies shall be payable and paid by my executor hereinafter named at
the end of six months next after my decrease Also I give devise and bequeath unto my son
Thomas Rew his heirs executors administrators and assignes All my real estate goods or
chattels Personal Estate and property whatsoever and wheresoever subject ne
vertheless to and charged with the payment of all my just debts the expenses of my funeral
and of proving this my will and the said pecuniary Legacies To hold the same (subject
and charges as aforesaid) unto and to the use of my said son Thomas Rew his heirs exec
utors administrators and assignes for ever Thus I hereby nominate institute and appoint
my said son Thomas Rew sole Executor of this my last will and testament And Lastly
I hereby revoke and make void all other wills by me heretofore made In witness whereof
I the said John Rew (the Testator) have hereunto subscribed and set my hand and seal
this fourth day of January in the year of our Lord one thousand and eight hundred and
forty – John Rew [signed] [his Seal] – Signed Sealed Published and Declared by the said
John Rew (the Testator) as and for his last will and testament in the presence of us present
at the same time who at his request in his presence and in the presence of each other
have hereunto subscribed our names as witness thereto – I G Pearse [signed]
J Galliford [signed]

Proved at London 10th March 1848 for the Judge by the oath of Thomas
Rew the son the sole Executor to whom Admon was granted having been first sworn
by Commission duly to administer

The will was an eye into the past. He clearly records the name of his daughter Elizabeth Pincombe and interestingly he dies at his son Thomas Rew's farm at Sheepwash in 1848. In 1841 Thomas Rew is also missing from his home along with his eldest daughter Joanna Rew. Where have these two family groupings gone? I surmised that they had gone to bring the father to Sheepwash to live with Thomas and his family. A bit of serendipity ensued as I decided this one evening after Ancestry acquired the British Census to sign up for World Membership. That same evening I signed up I found Elizabeth Pincombe, John Pincombe, Thomas Rew, Joanna Rew, John Rew, Robert Siderfin, Ann Nurcombe, John Nurcombe and their children. All of them were staying at Higher Hopcott Farm. I knew from the will that John Rew's wife was buried at Selworthy. I was slowly inching towards the truth about Elizabeth Pincombe's birthplace. 

I continued searching the census and found that Thomas Rew was born at Selworthy. Initially I had heard from a cousin that Thomas Rew was a twin of Elizabeth Rew. This was, in fact, incorrect but interestly the witnesses on the marriage registration for John Pincombe and Elizabeth Rew were Thomas Rew and Robert Nurcombe. All of these pieces of information brought me to the name of John Rew's wife which was Elizabeth Siderfin sister to Robert Siderfin on the 1841 census and Ann Nurcombe (nee Siderfin) sister to Elizabeth Rew.

This leads me then back to the Siderfin Family of West Somerset and the actual line of Elizabeth Rew - Somerset not Devon. I finally put together all the files for the Siderfin one name study and sent them off to the Archives for the Guild and Mark Siderfin. I am excited waiting to see the development of the study under Mark Siderfin's guidance. 

I want to continue with transcribing the Somerset parish registers in this time slot starting with the next research day.

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