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 10^th 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.