Placing John (baptized 1656 at Wootton Courtney) and William (married to Mary Terrel 23 Feb 1692 at Selworthy) as children of Robert (baptized 1616 at Minehead, Robert 3, William 2, John 1) fits in with James Sanders chart in terms of the two being brothers, but Thomasine does not mention them so they do not appear to be siblings to her son Robert. This group of three Siderfin males cluster around Selworthy/Wootton Courtney/Minehead and that will be the case for all members of this family grouping into the 1800s. Although they are perhaps first cousins in the 5th generation I do not get a sense looking at the records in the 1700s that these families remain close.
Unfortunately the full wills for Robert Siderfin (John 5, Robert 4, Robert 3, William 2, John 1) whose will was dated 4 Feb 1731/32 and that of his wife Elizabeth (Question) Siderfin whose will was dated 9 Dec 1738 did not survive. Only an abstract remains and checking the contents of James Sanders' fonds at the Devon Record Office, the full wills are not present in his material.
Robert Siderfin, Selworthy, yeoman. Will dated 4th Feby., 1731-2, proved 9th August, 1732. Mentions 4 sons, Robert, John, Augustine and Thomas and three daughters, Elizabeth Goodgroom, Jane Siderfin, and Susanna Kent, all rest to my wife Elizabeth sole executrix.
Witness: Thomas Trill and Thomas Kent
Elizabeth Siderfin, Selworthy, widow, dated 9th Decr. 1738. Mentions daughters Jane, Elizabeth Goodgroome, Susanna Kent; sons, Robert, John, Thomas, Augustine.
The wife of William (Mary (Terrel) Siderfin) left her will dated 18 Jun 1746.
Mary Siderfin, Minehead, widow of William Siderfin, no mention of children or lands, dated 18th June, 1746, sealed (3 cups).
From this will one can assume (but not prove) that William was older than his likely brother Robert mentioned in the first paragraph of this blog. He is using the Siderfin family crest:
How far back can one see this family crest used would help to verify this suggested family line. William would likely need to be the eldest son of Robert (Robert 4, Robert 3, William 2, John 1). Robert 4 was the second son of Robert 3 so all male lines of William (Robert 3, William 2, John 1) would need to have died out if the crest was used by this William and before him his father Robert (William 2, John 1). The rules for using a crest were set up fairly early and one does see that a particular Arms of the Siderfin family was created for the marriage of Robert Siderfin (Thomas 4, Robert 3, William 2, John 1) and Anne Wittewronge (married 16 Jun 1687 St Nicholas Cole Abbey, London) daughter of Sir John Wittewrong of Rothamsted, Hertfordshire, Baronet. It appears from the text of James Sanders that the floor piece for the memorial stone at Selworthy for Anne (Wittewrong) Siderfin included a crest which was as follows: Arms: three cups, Siderfin; impaling Bendy of fix, on a chief a bar indented, Wittewronge. The source of this reference: The History and Antiquities of the County of Somerset, collected from Authentick Records, and an actual Survey made by the late Mr. Edmund Rack. Adorned with a map of the County and engravings of Roman and other Reliques, Town-Seals, Baths, Churches, and Gentlemen’s Seats by the Reverend John Collinson, F.A.S. Vicar of Long-Ashton, Curate of Filton alias Whitchurch, in the County of Somerset and Vicar of Clanfield, in the County of Oxford. 3 Volumes; Printed at Bath: Printed by R. Cruttwell, 1791. Finding the first user of the coat of arms would be interesting.
Very much a novice in the usage of coats of arms, I do know that individual sons could apply for a coat of arms although they generally carried a mark (a difference) which showed them to be a subsidiary coat of arms to the original coat of arms (if I have that right, i.e. a younger son of the actual holder of the crest or a younger sibling). Thomas (Robert 3, William 2, John 1) left his will dated 6 Nov 1675:
Thomas Siderfin the elder, of Luxborough, Somt., gent, Will dated 6th Nov., 1675. No proof. To be buried at Luxborough. To the poor £10. Johan my wife. My son Robert Siderfin. To my son Thomas Siderfin £50 and all my law books. To all my children "on peece of Barbary gould." My grandchild Da...(?) and Johan my wife Exixs. South Wheddon and grandchildren, Thomas and James Darch, £10 each; sealed three cups; £20 to poor of Carhampton; £20 do. poor of Dunster.
Thomas also sealed his will with the Siderfin crest. In this time period perhaps the addition of a mark was not yet common to designate a younger son. No ideas on that although in the Blake family the same crest (as used by the Calne Blake family) was used by all in these early years - 1500s, 1600s and into the 1700s (but distinguishing marks were noted and will check to see when that began).
It does appear that William Siderfin (married to Mary Terrel who kindly left her will but again only an abstract) did use the main crest for this line but Mary does not mention any children in her will but they did baptize two children at Minehead (a son Robert and a daughter Mary who died as an infant (still checking on Robert); Mary's will was dated 18 Jun 1746 and she was a widow. The time period does seem very large as William married Mary Terrel 23 Feb 1692 at Selworthy. She (Mary) must have been a number of years younger than her husband if he was born circa 1660 (not yet found and if he is eldest would need to be before 1656). If married around 20 then she would have been 74 years of age with William (deceased at this time) had he lived so long being 87 (but a date of death in my chart shows 1723 for his year of death but must find the reference for that, he would then have been 63).
The adventure continues and I must try to get into the Parish Registers a bit today to see what I can find.
On to breakfast and a day of research and skiing perhaps.
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