Protestation Returns for Somerset

Spent a good portion of the day working my way through the Somerset Protestation Returns for Somerset. Since I was doing the task I also extracted Blake, Escott, Trill, Nurcombe, Westerne, Couch, Chorley/Charley/Churley, Question and Rew as well as Siderfin/Sidderfin. It was a task I had often thought of doing and the opportunity presented itself. I did not find any more Sidderfin/Siderfin names than I already had located using the index. I also have the Parliamentary copies of the original to look at from their excellent website. I need to read through Minehead. 

What I am trying to prove, and it looks even more doable than before, is that the three children baptized at Minehead are all children of the same Robert and Ursula (Webber) Siderfin known to be at Minehead. Namely that is Wilmot Siderfin in 1614, Robert Siderfin in 1616 and John Siderfin 1619. I know that my Siderfin family at Selworthy also lived at Bratton just outside of Minehead at that time but part of Minehead now. James Sanders himself mentions property at Dunster that his mother was involved with at some point. Dunster is the location for the Question family and John's son Robert married Elizabeth Question of Dunster and James' mother Elizabeth was the eldest daughter of the eldest son according to his chart). James Sanders in his pedigree chart lists three children below John Siderfin whom he names as the only descendant of Robert which is incorrect it would appear. Learning more about Wilmot and Robert Siderfin the other two children baptized at Minehead would be interesting. I do have the Parish Registers for Minehead both the fiche of the original records and the Index of those records. I am at that place in time when I handed over the project to my cousin and decided to take on the Blake one-name study. Although I found Siderfin very interesting I did feel that my cousin was in a better position to do the research that, at that time, needed to be done in person at the Somerset Record Office. Time has passed and more and more information is online including the excellent search tool of the Archives at Somerset with lots of information. 

Today I continue with the Protestation Returns and plan to complete that task. In my mind I already feel that I have accomplished the task of linking John at Selworthy in 1641 with the John baptized at Minehead in 1619. He does appear to marry late (his children are baptized in 1656, 1658 and 1660 making him 37 when the first child was baptized. His wife Thomasine was likely younger than him as she was buried in 1709 at Wootton Courtney. James Sanders links three children with this marriage of John and Thomasine and they are as follows: the eldest son of John was said to be a John and he lived at Wootton Courtney, the next son Robert lived at Selworthy and the youngest son William lived at Minehead. Thomasine's will would have provided a lot more information than the abstract but as life flows that is all that there is. The abstract only mentions the son Robert, a "cousin" Robert Siderfin of Linch and all the children of Robert and his wife Elizabeth (Question) Siderfin. But Thomasine was buried at Wootton Courtney and Robert lived always at Selworthy. 

Interesting conundrum and the solution does lie in what is available one hopes. It doesn't matter in the long run in terms of just who the John at Wootton Courtney and the William at Minehead are when I reflect on my own line but for the sake of the Siderfin family study and the revision of James Sanders text I need to find as much information as I can. Will I ever register the study again? At 77 that seems a bit of a pipe dream to be honest. I am seeing myself as publishing and winding down in my studies although still very active with them. 

So on with the study. On with the day and on with breakfast!

Glory to Ukraine and may she drive the Russians from her land. The murder of so many Ukrainian children, women and men hangs heavy on the world; one prays that the tanks will bring an end to this useless war of aggression that Russia has wrought on the world. May it be the last of such wars of greed for land and riches.

This is the day that the Lord hast made

I have been singing the song "This is the day that the Lord hast made" for days and days now whilst I am sitting at my computer waiting for the sunrise. The beauty of our world abounds and now we just have to figure out how to keep it beautiful and help to restore it to its proper environment before industrialization started to decay the atmosphere. There must be a way; we are intelligent beings and somewhere within us is the ability to bring back the good life for all of us. 

Yesterday turned out to be a grocery shopping day and so I am prepared for the next onslaught of snow which is predicted to be 15 to 25 centimetres of snow. I had to use just a little de-icer on my porch yesterday and hope that it keeps working as we shift into snow high gear. I hate to put it on but sometimes a little is necessary. It does look bleak outside right now. The snow has melted off the trees and the sky has the look of snow to come but no snow yet. 

Playing my solitaire games whilst writing my blog today. I just had the song in my head and decided to share it with my blog today. The hardest game today was Spider Solitaire and it took a little manipulation but I managed it the first time through and quite quickly. On to Tripeaks and the first run was 25,600 points and moving on from there. Back to my blog when I finish my games. Generally I do them first after making my tea to wake up my brain fully before I begin the work of the day which will be the Siderfin book. 

Yesterday I gathered up all my databases (mostly on CDs) to work on separating out the four lines that I have decided to create with Robert's (married to Christian) children - a William Line, a Robert Line, a Thomas line and the remaining five children - on Sanders chart (Sanders says in the text that there are eight children but only six listed) - William, Robert, Thomas, Janet, Elizabeth and Joan; on my chart (8 children) - William, Robert, Thomas, Christian, John, James, Elizabeth and Jane/Joan. On Sanders chart - Joan married William Webber and no husband listed for Janet or Elizabeth. On my chart - Christian married William Couch; Elizabeth married James Nurcombe and Jane/Joan married? or not at all. Still to be determined. 

The will of Robert (probated 31 Jan 1627/28) lists his children and the child of his sister Jone married to William Westeron/Westerne. The son of Jone named as Robert Westeron and his son is Elmer Westeron. Robert's children - William with son Robert; Robert with son Robert (living at Minehead); Marie (daughter unmarried); Thomas Siderfin; Mary Siderfin (South Wheddon is mentioned for both of them along with the lease to keep one hundred sheep at Brundon); Jane; granddaughter Johanne Coutch; wife Christian. Probate to Christian (widow). 

Again, Sanders in the text mentions that Robert (will probated 1627/28) and Christian have eight children but only lists six. Robert has a granddaughter Mary born circa 1612 and a grandson Thomas born 1618 (could Robert have forgotten to note that Thomas and Mary were his eldest son William's children? A number of William and Christian's children died young. With these thoughts in mind I continue with my review of the Protestation Returns for Somerset. I did not find anything new yet but like the Devon Returns I shall look at them all through the day. 

Cleaning all accomplished and the next five days belong to the Siderfin book although I generally do get distracted by emails and the like!

On to the day and breakfast.

 

Time marches onward and progress on the Siderfin book

 Yesterday was devoted heavily to working on the Siderfin Book. I have more or less completed the third generation with a few loose ends I am still working on. It had a major stumbling block as James Sanders had Robert Siderfin (son of William Sidervin and Wilmot Foster) dying in 1612 but there is a will in 1627 for a Robert Siderfin naming his children and sister's child. There isn't a will in 1612 for a Robert Siderfin. His age in 1627 would be estimated at 87 which was a very long lived life at that time. The estimated 1540 year of birth was based on his parent's likely marriage in 1534-5 given the indenture that was created as the marriage portion for Wilmot (Foster) Siderfin by her father John Foster and Robert appears on the Muster Roll of 1569 although he could have been as young as 16 perhaps so that year of birth could be 1540 to 1544 which would then give him an estimated age at death of 83. The baptisms of his children begin in the 1580s which has him as rather older when his children were born and has been a challenge in my thoughts but there isn't an inkling of the maiden surname of his wife Christian or their date of marriage. The will of 1627 names his children and grandchildren as well as the child of his sister (except for a Mary/Marie mentioned in the will as a daughter but one child Elizabeth is missing from the will and she married James Nurcombe 30 Sep 1616 at Luxborough and has a death date of 1668 on Sander's Pedigree Chart. He does mention his granddaughter Johanne Couch (daughter Christian married William Couch 3 Jun 1616 at Luxborough). The records are definitely thin on the ground in this time period and the parish registers for Luxborough in the 1500s have been "eaten" making them rather difficult to read but the name Siderfin does rather stand out where it exists fortunately. 

Today I continue with the Third Generation and hopefully moving onto the Fourth Generation. The size of Robert's family makes this a rapidly expanding family and I will do the Fourth Generation as four separate charts - namely one for each of the three sons leaving a large family - namely William, Robert and Thomas - and one for the overall family including the daughters of Robert. I have not done the task of working the table down for the daughters as being a one-namer the second that one changes their surname I may or may not record the first generation although generally I do not but in this case I will attempt to bring the line down a couple of generations if that is possible (in this case there is the Couch family, the Nurcombe family and perhaps one other as I have not discovered if the youngest daughter Jane married - she is mentioned in the will regarding her marriage portion). Mary remains a bit of an enigma since there is a Mary in the will but not an Elizabeth! Mary Elizabeth would have been a common name as the female children were often given the name Mary along with another forename and the boys were often given Joseph along with another surname but not perhaps as often as the forename Mary is given. We are now into the times of Queen Elizabeth when the Anglican Church was becoming more prominent in England with Elizabeth as Supreme Governor (Queen Mary returned the Church of England to its former position as part of the Church of Rome and the Pope as Head of the Church). 

I will do some shifting of text so that all of the text dealing with the Second Generation is part of that section. There is still more text to go through in the Third Generation portion. When I first read "The Siderfin Family of West Somerset" book by James Sanders I was quite pleased with all the material but I can see where my changes will make it more readable and less of an historical tome of events in the Siderfin Family brought together with subtitles of the most eventful happenings in the Family over a period of three hundred years. 

Reading the news today and once again are the Nazis Putin and his enablers going to be able to hold the world ransom so that it can steal Ukraine? The threat of nuclear war has forever been bandied about over the seventy seven years of  my life. We will probably need nuclear weapons in our future if only to move asteroids out of the way of the planet but threatening us constantly with global annihilation is just a childish two year old way of saying I want it and if I can not have it then I will destroy everything. Russia, as a country, has a unique and beautiful history over the thousands of years of its existence. Too bad that the psychopathic Nazis Putin and his enablers have a goal that is untenable in the modern world. We can not let brutes run our world; we all lose because today it is Ukraine but what is it tomorrow? Give Ukraine the equipment that it needs to push the Russians back to the borders established at the end of the Soviet Union. No one asked the Soviet Union to wage wars that caused its bankruptcy and the break up of the Soviet Union. Millions of people were freed from enslavement behind an Iron Curtain when the Soviet Union collapsed; this war will come if Russia does not get out of Ukraine - they can not unilaterally hold an illegal referendum without the United Nations being part of it to declare it a free election and then claim that land as part of Russia. Armageddon looms again and the way to God is through Jesus and the path is through the New Commandments not some wishy washy statements made by a corrupt Rasputin like Patriarch Kirill. If he cared about the Russian Orthodox Church and the millions of adherents in Russia he would support Ukraine's right to be free. But it is all about power and money and his own glory and so he treats the Russians like serfs and tells them lies to get them to go to war against their blood; their cousins and neighbours. We must not lose the beauty of the words that Christ brought to us. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. The second is like onto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself; There is none other commandment greater than these. One of the great mysteries of the Russian Orthodox Church is their belief that one faithful person with one icon can rebuild the sacred Russian Orthodox Church which has its roots deep in the Christianity created by Christ Himself. There can be wicked people Russia - remember Rasputin - support Ukraine not the Nazis Putin and his enablers who have taken over your government. Russia belongs to the Russian people not the Nazis Putin and his enablers.