Brick Wall number 9

And my title will vary because my blog was locked up about five years ago when it was checked out for being spam because of a repeating title! I am spending about an hour a day on my research once again and want to build that back up to 4 or 5 hours per day but will not go back to 8 to 10 or 12 hours per day.

Brick Wall number 9

Wife of John Kent

This particular lady continues within that set of Somerset families that I have. I haven't been to Somerset yet and I suspect that is part of the reason that I have a couple of problems there. The record office at Taunton is said to be excellent and I look forward to having a look one of these days.

John Kent and his wife Elizabeth were the parents of Grace Kent who married Robert Siderfin (5 Feb 1752 at Selworthy) one of the sons of Augustine Siderfin and his wife Mary Davies (Brick Wall Number 10). I have been through the Selworthy Parish Registers having a look because Grace was baptized there (25 Apr 1731). However her elder brother John was baptized at Porlock (15 Feb 1730) so I have also been through the Porlock Parish Registers to find a marriage for John Kent (baptized 28 Jan 1708 Porlock) and Elizabeth (unknown). No luck thus far and there are a few Kent families there. There is an Elizabeth Kent wife of John buried at Porlock 4 Oct 1739.

For the record it is 2 miles from Selworthy to Porlock, it is three miles from Luccombe (another Kent place) to Porlock, it is 4 miles from Wootton Courtenay to Porlock. These are not great distances in terms of movement place to place.

In this early time frame how far would they go to marry? I am confident that John Kent is the son of John Kent and Joan Beague who married 15 Dec 1694 at Luccombe and their children were all baptized at Porlock. This family tended to be blacksmiths.

Siderfin Family of Selworthy

The question that begs to be answered is "Who is the father of Robert Siderfin born 3 August 1658 and baptized 23 August 1658 at Selworthy?". Why does the priest record his birth? Does he consider this family to be significant? In that case is this Robert a descendant of the William Siderfin and Wilmot Webber line and they married 5 Feb 1610 at Luxborough? There is a Robert born/baptized 1620 and whose death is listed as 1675 and he has son Robert and John (no dates given). I now need to investigate the source of that information as it dates back to my very early days in genealogy when I would enter items that I found extraneously without including detailed source accounts. The information does not come from Sander's book so that leaves me with my wills fiche that I purchased for Somerset and I want to check there for Question so will also check other Siderfin wills that are listed there.

Unravelling this puzzle, I looked at the will abstracts that I have on fiche and an interesting will for Richard Blackford (mentioned in Sander's book)

Richard Blackford, of Dunster, Somerset, one of the King's Masters Extraordinary in the Court of Chancery. Will dates Jan 8, 1688, proved Apr 4, 1689 by Elizabeth Blackford, the relict [is this perhaps the Elizabeth Blackford mentioned as the wife of Robert Siderfin (perhaps marrying him as a widow?)]. My son William. My daughter Sidwell Blackford [married Thomas Dyke later]. My sister Mary Coffin. My sister Christian Blackford. My cousin John Quirck. My cousin Robert Siderfin. My sister Hawkins. My son in law Edward Dyke. My daughter Elizabeth Dyke.

The question is how is he related to Robert Siderfin and which Robert Siderfin is this?

Recalling the earlier information in this time period:

Protestation Returns and Tax Subsidies.

Protestation Returns - 1641-42
Sidderfin Thomas gent Carhampton 1.
Sidderfin Robert Luxborough 2.
Sidderfin Thomas Luxborough 3.
Siderfin William overseer Luxborough 4.
Sidderfin Robert Minehead 5.
Sidderfin John Selworthy 6.

Subsidy 1641-42

Surname Forename Suffix s d Parish
Syderfyn Thos gent 5 6 Carhampton 7.
Syderfyn Thomas 11 Cutcombe 8.
Syderfin Cristian 6 8 Luxborow Everard 9.
Syderfin William 4 8 Luxborow Everard 10.
Syderfyn Thomas 4 6 Minehead 11.
Syderfyn Robert rater 4 7 Minehead 12.
Syderfyn Robert sen 4 Timberscombe 13.
Syderfyn Robert jun 3 Timberscombe 14.
Syderfyn Wm rater 8 1 Treborough Browne 15.
Syderfyn Robert 13 6 Wotton Courtney 16.

We appear to have two Robert Siderfin's who would be similar in age to Richard Blackford - one at Minehead and one at Timberscombe paying subsidy/Luccombe on the Protestation Returns. On a map these two villages lie at opposite ends of a large valley which could lend credence to the thought that it is a matter of convenience as to whether they would attend at Timberscombe or Luxborough for the Protestation Returns although they pay subsidy for Timberscombe.

To be continued.

Siderfin Family

I have had the opportunity to spend some time studying the Siderfin family of Somerset (principally Luccombe, Luxworthy, Selworthy, Dunster, Minehead and Wootton Courtney). My 3x great grandmother was Elizabeth Siderfin daughter of Robert Siderfin. I have had a couple of queries about the genealogical chart which was produced in a book on the Siderfin family. I myself was somewhat perplexed by the Chart but the individual who wrote the book would have likely had knowledge of his mother's first and second cousins so felt that his chart may have been somewhat more accurate than my own studies on this family. However, as I read and reread his book I am realizing he may have been mistaken in his tracing of my direct family line and that they were actually descended from Augustine Siderfin rather than his uncle Robert Siderfin. Augustine was the local school teacher and my 2x great grandmother was also a school teacher as well as her older sister. My 3x great grandmother signed her marriage registration in 1792. I had linked one of her sisters to the Nurcombe family but in his book he notes a Nutcombe family. I need to work my way through an extensive will that mentions all the siblings of my 3x great grandmother and discover the relationship of this individual to the family and it may well be the clue that lets me link back through Augustine. Robert (current father of my Elizabeth) would have been 103 when he died and over 60 when he married  so I have always debated it somewhat because of the enormous age disparity. Robert, son of Augustine has always been a possibility.