Perhaps one of my most intriguing surnames in my decade of searching my ancestors has been Siderfin. Siderfin is one of my families that has been published. Although my line is incorrect (as is the authors), the author has done a tremendous job of bringing together all the extant records for this family and prior to the bombing of the Devon Record Office in 1942. I would like to go into the Record Office one day and see his files which were donated by his family after WWII so they are still intact. He supplies only abstracts of most wills and it would be handy to see if he actually transcribed some of the wills. James Sanders, JP, lived at South Molton, Devon. His book was titled: History of the Siderfin Family of West Somerset. It was published at Exeter by W J Southwood and Co., Dynamo Works in 1912.
Robert Siderfin was my 4x great grandfather. Not a lot is known about Robert. He was baptized 23 Jun 1726 at Cutcombe where his father Augustine taught school. His mother was Mary Davies and Augustine and Mary were married 29 Apr 1720 at Cutcombe. Robert was their second child, John Siderfin, the eldest, was baptized 14 Jan 1722 also at Cutcombe. Robert married Grace Kent 5 Feb 1752 at Selworthy (Selworthy was the home of Grace Kent). He and Grace baptized nine children (the first John baptized 1753 died young) but this is rather interesting as they were baptized in several different villages. It made me wonder if Robert was also a school teacher. Certainly his grand daughter Elizabeth Rew was a school teacher at Bishops Nympton and his father a teacher at Cutcombe. All of these children signed their marriage registrations including Elizabeth Siderfin the daughter of Robert Siderfin and Grace Kent and my ancestor. Elizabeth married John Rew 30 Jan 1792 at Selworthy. Their daughter Elizabeth Rew married John Pincombe at Bishops Nympton. Their son William Robert was my great grandfather.
The earliest record for this family found by James Sanders was in the Hundred Rolls of Somerset in the 4th year of the reign of Edward I (1274) and that Robert de Sidernefenne paid rent in the free manor of Brigford (now Brushford) Somerset. The name Sidernefenne is thought to mean the corner or side of the valley by the fen or swamp. He found nothing further for this family in Somerset until the mid 1500s. They were then located in the Manor of Luxborough and it was a William Sidervin (then deceased) with widow Wilmot Foster (now deceased at the time of the application) and the lord of the manor was John Foster. The son of William was Robert Siderfinne and he was applying for a lease of land held formally by his parents. Wilmot was a daughter of the grandfather of John Foster. The family was at Luxburough but there is no legal evidence of how this particular case was resolved.
There is a family tree in the book which commences with John Siderfin and Christian his wife of Luxburough and they were the parents of William Sidervin married to Wilmot Foster. They had a son Robert and a daughter Jone (married to Webber). Robert and his wife had six children: William, Robert, Thomas, Janet, Elizabeth and Joan. The line that my family possibly descends from appears to come down from Robert married to Priscilla Webber (Robert lived between 1587 and 1636). They had a son John who lived at Wootton Courtney and was b circa 1614. This John may have been the father of John b 1656 at Wooton Courtney, Robert b 1658 at Selworthy (married to Thomasine) and William b 1660 at Minehead. However the chart that was produced in the book does not really answer that question.
My own line begins with Robert married to Thomasine but I do not think he was b 1658. He is more likely born in the mid 1630s as his son is Robert b 1658 and married to Elizabeth Question (not Elizabeth Blackford as is written in the chart). Elizabeth Question was the daughter of Augustine Question and it is their son Augustine that is my ancestor.
Correcting the book by Sanders is an important part of my Siderfin research.
Ancestry of Robert Siderfin
1. Elizabeth BLAKE
2. Helen Louise PINCOMBE
3. John Routledge PINCOMBE (b 10 Sep 1872)- Lobo Township Middlesex County Ontario Canada
4. William Robert PINCOMBE (b 11 Jun 1837)- Molland Devon England
5. Elizabeth (Betsey) REW (b 20 Dec 1801) - Selworthy Somerset England
6. Elizabeth (Betty) SIDERFIN (b 19 Jun 1759) - Selworthy Somerset England
7. Robert SIDERFIN (b 23 Jun 1726) - Cutcombe Somerset England
8. Augustine SIDERFIN (b 27 Dec 1692) - Selworthy Somerset England
9. Robert SIDERFIN (b 3 Aug 1658) - Selworthy Somerset England
10. Robert SIDERFIN circa 1630s
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