Siderfin Family

One of my interesting finds back in 2005 was the surname of my 2x great grandmother's mother. My 2x great grandmother was Elizabeth Rew but this proved to be a difficult brickwall for a little while until serendipity sent me on an interesting path. I searched for Elizabeth Pincombe (she married my 2x great grandfather John Pincombe at Bishops Nympton) on Ancestry way back in 2005 and up popped the 1841 census for a small village in Somerset with an Elizabeth Pincombe and a child John Pincombe. They were at Higher Hopcott home of the Nurcombe family (John Nurcombe married Ann Siderfin 25 Jun 1804 at Selworthy and I had at that time purchased the Parish Registers for Selworthy on fiche). At this point I still had not connected Rew with Siderfin. Also with them on that quite fascinating census entry for Wootton Courtney, Somerset was a Robert Siderfin and he was old enough to be Ann's brother. Elizabeth was of course considerably younger as she was a niece but the 1841 census does not reveal family affiliation information. The 1841 census at Wootton Courtney also included a Thomas Rew and his daughter Joanna Rew as well as John Rew (similar age to Robert Siderfin and Ann Siderfin). Pincombe is not a very common name but Rew is fairly common especially in the West Somerset area. I could not make any assumptions as Pincombe also occurs in the West Somerset area. I needed to sleuth this out but serendipity had definitely played a role.

Searching online I discovered that there was a book about the Siderfin Family (History of the Siderfin Family of West Somerset by James Sanders). I could not find a copy of the book at that time that I could purchase although I knew there was a copy at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and at the Allen County Library in Indiana. But I knew that I had perhaps clued in to the surname of Elizabeth Rew's mother. Now to prove the premise and searching once again on the wills of the Rew family I came across the will of John Rew (widower probated 1848) and he was living with his son Thomas Rew at Sheepwash which is near Bishops Nympton and he asked to be buried beside his wife in the churchyard at Selworthy (Somerset). In the will he mentioned his daughter Elizabeth Pincombe. The sleuthing continued at a good pace then (I was a student at the National Institute for Genealogical Studies and this course was my means to write a profile of the Pincombe Family for a published history book; I wanted to get it as right as I could!). Slowly but surely I was teasing it out. I could now link the Elizabeth Pincombe with her son John (John Pincombe, her husband, was at Gatcombe Farm, Molland with the two younger children) with her brother Thomas Rew and his daughter Joanna who normally lived at Sheepwash, Bishops Nympton with the John Rew who left his will dated 4 Jan 1840 and living at Bishops Nympton. He does not actually say if he is living with his daughter Elizabeth or his son Thomas but I suspect Thomas because he names him as his executor. Why they went to Wootton Courtney remains a mystery in time but this was a family that remained close even with an ocean separating them. Their correspondence back and forth lasted up until the second world war and perhaps beyond I have not yet found evidence of that.

In 2008 we did go to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. I could have borrowed the book perhaps but my time in those days was pretty limited. I was still working full time and did do that until 2007. As it turned out the author of the book, James Sanders, had linked my line incorrectly (and his own for that matter) and a good deal of research finally sorted that out. I gave my Siderfin Research to a cousin in England who was much closer to the records and he continues with the Siderfin one name study.

I did receive an email about the Siderfin family and will try to respond to that. The email though did bring back this rather interesting memory from fifteen years ago. These past eight years have passed rather quickly for me as it has been a really busy time. Perhaps this next decade I can get back to my research.