A baptism can not be located for William Siderfin circa 1660 but he did live at Minehead. His father (James Sanders has John (Robert 4, Robert 3, William 2, John 1) and at the moment on my tree he is the son of Robert (Robert 4, Robert 3, William 2, John 1) simply because this Robert was traditionally at Minehead and there remains that possibility that William is of the Robert line and even more interesting that Thomasine does not mention William actually. It does make me think that William is of the Thomas line. He would have been the son of Thomasine's brother in law although James Sanders does have a Robert marrying Thomasine and not a John. I just feel it has to be a John by the naming pattern, by the location and by the property that she did not have to pass on to a son. If she was married to Robert of Minehead then there would have been some property (namely the property declared on the Somerset Lay Subsidy of 1642). The Wills at Taunton are on Find My past just as a list and William dying in 1723 has a stated age of 45 gent, dying at Mynehead 1723 which would have him born circa 1678 and he would be married then at the age of 14 which is highly unlikely. The Mary Siderfin listed by James Sanders as his wife dying in 1747 is listed as 50 years so definitely not the wife of this William. That puts me back pretty much at square 1. There aren't any baptisms for a William in 1778 or close to that. I do not have any children for Robert 5 (Robert 4, Robert 3, William 2, John 1) at Minehead on the Protestation Return 1641 or on the Somerset Lay Subsidy of 1642. Thomasine (mother of Robert, likely nephew to Robert 5) does not name a brother in law but that could simply mean that he had died and no close relatives - children of Robert 5 - just her son Robert. Interesting he was named Robert but no property for him at the time of Thomasine's death; Her will:
Thomasin Siderfin, Selworthy, widow. Will dated 2nd July, 1709. Mentions son, Robert Siderfin. Cousin Robert Siderfin, of Linch. Grandsons, John, Robert, Augustine, Thomas, various small legacies, and grand daughters, Jane, Susanna.
Witness: Thomas Trill, John Harrison, Joane Trill
Her son Robert was said to be born in 1658 so she is fairly elderly and Robert could already have his property but he is living in Selworthy but still my thought is that this Robert son of Thomasine Siderfin (widow) is the son of John younger brother to Robert 5 (Robert 4, Robert 3, William 2, John 1) and I do this purely on the Somerset Lay Subsidy of 1642 and the Protestation Returns of 1641 where John at Selworthy is listed on the latter along with his brother Robert at Minehead but on the former only Robert is listed as paying tax on property.
This William Siderfin buried in 1723 at the age of 45, gent, is certainly a mystery but I shall remove him completely from the Robert line as he does not appear to fit in to this line. Not mentioned in Thomasine's will and he certainly would have been if he was a brother to the husband of Thomasine (she mentions Cousin Robert at East Lynch). Although transcripts tended to be pretty brief they likely included anyone who was named as a gent! So on to the Thomas line and that will be my point of starting today. I will start with Mary Siderfin (widow) who left her will in 1747. It is James Sanders who mentions that Mary Siderfin, widow of William leaving her will in 1747 at the age of 50 so born circa 1697 so not married in 1692 and it is her will that says sealed (3 cups). Interesting actually as the descendants of Thomas 4 (Robert 3, William 2, John 1) have a mysterious hue about them - they lived well and were well respected but both of his sons died deeply in debt so deep that an Act of Parliament settled their debts. The eldest Thomas was married twice and the youngest Robert was married four times. They each appear to leave a daughter although James Sanders gives two sons to Robert from his first marriage. I have nothing on these sons but I will dig a little deeper as this William belongs to someone.
The Fifth Generation has proven to be as big a challenge as the Fourth Generation which I did rather expect. It will be comfortable to finally put this chapter to rest and enter into the Sixth Generation where my own line clearly dominates this family with Robert Siderfin (baptized 23 Aug 1658 at Selworthy and born there 3 Aug 1558). It is this baptism that I want to find in the original registers as I find only that a child has been baptized on this date in the transcriptions and attributed to Robert by other researchers. Robert, son of Thomasine Siderfin (widow) though is definitely married to Elizabeth (Question) Siderfin because the children and grandchildren in Thomasine Siderfin's will transcript and the actual will of Augustine Question (father of Elizabeth (Question) Siderfin) match. I am in a rush to get into the Sixth Generation to see what I can find but a little longer on the Fifth Generation so that I have a clean chapter to "put to bed" as printers used to say anyway when I worked for them. Then I can move on into that Sixth Generation confident with the preceding information. James Sanders had an enormous advantage as he lived during the 1800s and probably did know some of the relatives of his mother Elizabeth but he did have some errors in that Sixth Generation probably because time had passed before he set pen to paper so to speak in the early 1900s when his mother had died in 1882 at South Molton a long way from Watchet, Somerset and her place of childhood. Elizabeth was the eldest child in the marriage of Robert Siderfin and Sarah Parsons baptized in 1817 at St Decumans Watchet and married in 1842 at St Decumans Watchet so that her memories were also long ago imparting them to her son born in 1845 although likely reinforced many times before her death in 1882 but he was, in the early 1900s in his late 50s early 60s and I notice I have not yet found his date of death or burial so lots to do and the year is moving onward. I would like to complete this book before my cataract surgery.
Then a month off or more will play that by ear (and with the advice of the surgeon) and I will spend it walking and hopefully skiing if Mother Nature is kind enough to send us lots of snow in December and January.
The queue has reached my daughter; life has been kind and all is resolved with the CRA and much thanks to them for their assistance. I do realize how difficult the COVID years were for everyone in their job but we are now past-COVID and the new reign of peace in our time is the most desired by the many peoples of the world.
The Time of Imperialism is dead and those who seek Imperialism will taste death but sad to say along the way they are destroying the lives of millions of people in Ukraine especially the children - the children are a very painful part of war. Countries now with declining birth rate especially must feel for those children lost in Ukraine as they desire more children to ensure a beneficial future for their country. Glory to Ukraine; Glory to the Russian Freedom Fighters who just want the country that Peter the Great desired for them - a prosperous Russia making friendly ties with their neighbours and the world. Asking for death to the invading psychopathic Nazis led by Putin and his enablers does seem un-Christian so I will just pray that they lay down their arms and go home to Russia and out of Ukraine defined by the United Nations at the end of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union destroyed itself by their imperialistic march into Afghanistan. NATO is a beacon of hope for Europe that peace can be found for the entire world - it is a non-aggressive pact and they prove it every day because they do not bomb Russia back to the Stone Age which is where the psychopathic Nazis Putin and his enablers belong.
Breakfast awaits and I am late today. I get very busy on my computer plus charging up my Fitbit for another wonderful day of exercise in God's world. Preservation of the body and the mind is right there in the Bible along with all of the other great words that have been with us for millennia. Sometimes the words seem harsh but they are in context for the times. We found peace in 1945 but now we must find the real peace where imperialistic aggression is no more and all the peoples of the earth get to enjoy their lives.
I also must get to work on the OGS material that collected up over the last two years that Edward wanted us to donate to the Library. We need to make a list and then can deliver the last items that arrived after his death. He is thrilled, I am sure, to know that so many people can benefit from his acquisitions. And all of us can testify to the extent of his collection; it certainly filled our house. Remembering those days he spent talking and discussing with Gordon Riddle the families in Burford, their mutual growing up area, Edward really enjoyed those times. They set him on a path he would never have taken - going to the Ontario Genealogical Society Ottawa Branch meeting way back in the early 1980s with Gordon Riddle, at his invitation, was a life changing moment for him. Edward and I enjoyed Astronomy together, camping, hiking, wild flower searching, bird watching - I am a mostly outdoors person when I am not a hermit. Always interested in his family research we had done that with visits to the oldest people in his area who had known his father and the Kipp family and many of them were related to him through his Kipp family (I love to hear the reflections of older people especially the historical ones and so became a shared interest - I certainly spent hours listening to my grandparents stories of their childhood in England). All gone now and Edward with them once again which is a comfort, his gleanings of information done in that purely scientific way that he excelled in. He was after all a PhD in a methodical science namely Inorganic Chemistry, and he put all of that talent to use in his endeavours in genealogy. I can not honestly say I could ever see his amazing interest in collecting people. I am still not that kind of person. Digging back into history and the times that were present is more of my interest for sure.
I am lucky with my surnames as they, not necessarily my ancestors, are the surnames that I research which were deep into the past of the British Isles playing a huge historical role in the evolution of the British Isles and my studies with the Guild of one-name studies have been a truly exciting time in my retirement (thank you George DeKay, also now deceased, for your persistence in getting me to do the Pincombe Profile (and he also organized my cousins to meet with my siblings and myself to collect the material and thoughts for that profile)). Those studies encourage me to be even more of the hermit I really am and yet I am producing material of value judging by the many emails in my inbox from around the world (so perhaps not a verbal/word hermit; just a physical hermit! But a people collector, not my style, my younger sister enjoys watching our family tree grow larger and larger but me I am in there for that direct line back as far as written history can take me and then the yDNA, mtDNA and atDNA takes me back much much further into times that we can only imagine but I have been very lucky with our DNA results (five siblings have tested giving me a huge variety of matches) letting me see deep into the past back to a British Isles attached by Doggerland to the European plain as the ice retreated back north and my ancient ancestors followed the herds to the oceans as the ice rapidly withdrew from the landmasses leaving huge areas available. As the oceans rose the British Isles was formed - the ancient home of most of my ancestors (I do apparently have a few Huguenots who came in the late 1400s to Somerset). Then there are a very few here and there from the continent that I can place but for the most part my lines are ancient to the British Isles and five distinct areas therein. Amazingly they scarcely moved from those ancient areas except for my Buller line and eventually my quest will take me there but first the easier ones. Buller will be much more difficult. Interesting though that my Grandfather Blake always maintained that his family had lived in the Andover area for ever and likely he was absolutely right - forever beginning with the end of the Ice Age! Mother Nature will determine our path; not us.
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