Andover Parish Register 2 - 7

I completed the second Register for Andover this morning - the last three of four pages were a real challenge. I might go back again and try to redo before I start on the third register. I have a lot of partials and blanks in the 2nd register. There are now 3030 baptisms, 739 marriages and 2606 burials. This small town is showing healthy growth although there must have been some sort of disease in April and May of 1642 as the numbers dying was quite high for that time period and included my 9x great grandfather William Blake who would have been 55 years old.

I will leave Andover once again and return to Timberscombe to work on the Parish Registers there. I also want to take a peak once again at the Siderfin family. I spent about an hour talking to Siderfin researchers in England. He is likely my 5th cousin but might be my 7th as he is tracing back along a different line. I want to also check the BMDs for the area as I reconstructed the tree that James Hooper Sanders had published in 1910. I may not have gone back far enough though to catch the change that they have mentioned to me. Since they are there and I am here I tend to think that they probably got it right! So I would need to disprove with solid proof from the BMDs. We share Augustine Siderfin who was a schoolteacher and left a will which they will likely see today. I would love to see that will actually and must purchase it one of these days. It seems certain that Augustine's father was Robert and his mother Elizabeth . When Augustine is buried in 1762 my 3x great grandmother was already 3 years old so might have been mentioned in his will. Becoming a teacher was a "family" thing in that family. Two of my 3x great grandmother's siblings were teachers as well as my 3x great grandmother. Going beyond Robert the father of Augustine Siderfin appears to be problematic. James Hooper Sanders clearly shows this to be John Siderfin (b c 1619) married to Thomasine who left a will in 1707 naming her son Robert and grandson Augustine amongst others. However the name of her husband is not mentioned. The family appears to be buried at Wootton Courtney but this John was buried at Selworthy which is perhaps a clue in itself. He is buried much later than see (1707 compared to 1731). Is it the correct husband? Moving backwards from John appears to be straightforward. I have removed all entries above Robert on my webpage for the moment until I find proof for this continuous relationship.

Yesterday was a beautiful day here - clear and finally warm in the afternoon. A cold night the night before going down to 8 degrees celsius. That is cold even for Ottawa! Today it rained first thing and will likely be overcast as more rain is promised. The garden is enormous this year and the birth of baby bunnies equally amazing as they munch away in the garden. My husband has put up wire cages everywhere but they sit on top of the cage and eat the vegetation through the breaks in the wire!

Today I will look at Siderfin since my cousins are busy at Taunton Record Office in Somerset. That way if they do decide to get back to me again I may have a few more comments. I sent them the Protestation Returns and Subsidy for 1641-42 for the Siderfin family. Reading through the information an explanation is given for the longer list of Siderfin family members paying subsidy than the list for Protestation Returns. If an individual pays subsidy on more than one property than their name will appear as many times as they pay a subsidy - which quite makes sense!

Siderfin Family

Protestation Returns - 1641-42
Sidderfin Thomas gent Carhampton
Sidderfin Robert Luxborough
Sidderfin Thomas Luxborough
Siderfin William overseer Luxborough
Sidderfin Robert Minehead
Sidderfin John Selworthy

Subsidy 1641-42

Surname Forename Suffix s d Parish
Syderfyn Thos gent 5 6 Carhampton
Syderfyn Thomas 11 Cutcombe
Syderfin Crispian 6 8 Luxborow Everard
Syderfin William 4 8 Luxborow Everard
Syderfyn Thomas 4 6 Minehead
Syderfyn Robert rater 4 7 Minehead
Syderfyn Robert sen 4 Timberscombe
Syderfyn Robert jun 3 Timberscombe
Syderfyn Wm rater 8 1 Treborough Browne
Syderfyn Robert 13 6 Wotton Courtney


This is the time period in question. One wonders is Robert our ancestor as he is at Wootton Courtney and/or is John at Selworthy. Definitely Thomasine widow of our Robert's father is buried at Wootton Courtney. John doesn't own any property but does that negate him? We can not be sure until we find a positive link. My 3x great grandmother was baptized at Wootton Courtney as were two of her sisters Grace and Ann. All of her brothers were baptized at Selworthy. The two villages - Selworthy and Wootton Courtney - are only three miles apart. John may have found it advantageous to sign the Protestation Return at Selworthy (he would have been 22 years old at the time and the Robert at Wootton Courtney appears to be the wealthiest of the Siderfin family. Robert could be John's father. I think I need to find a burial for Robert Siderfin married to Ursula Webber. I had sorted all these men out in the Subsidy so will have to go back and rethink it. That was before my blog. Now I write everything down so that I can go back and remember what I thought with evidence!

Looking at Wootton Courtney I see that Robert Siderfin and Elizabeth Siderfin (both of Selworthy) were buried there in 7 Mar 1731 and 28 Dec 1738. Could this be the parents of Augustine Siderfin. Is John being at Selworthy just a feature of that village being the closest to where he was farming? When did John die and where is he buried? I will try to answer those questions today looking at the BMDs for the villages. Just noting that Joanna (the eldest daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Siderfin of Selworthy) is buried at the age of 8 years at Wootton Courtney (and she is noted as being the daughter of Robert of Selworthy). Is this a sufficient link to prove that Robert at Selworthy is the direct descendant of Robert Siderfin and Ursula Webber?