SERCOMBE OF
HENNOCK AND BOVEY TRACEY
A
search for the marriage of Samuel Sercombe and Ann who had children baptised at
Hennock between 1755 and 1775 reveals the marriage at
nearby Bridford on 22 November 1750 of Samuel Viol Sircombe and Ann Lear.[1]
No other plausible marriage has been found, and there
is no obvious explanation for what happened to Samuel Viol Sercombe if he was
not the Samuel Sercombe whose children were baptised
at Hennock. However, there are reasons to doubt the
identification. In particular:
1 The middle name Viol or Violl is used at both his baptism and marriage but does not
seem to occur in any of the later records mentioning Samuel.
2 There is a gap between
the marriage at Bridford in November 1750 and the
baptism of the first known child at Hennock in May
1755, after which Samuel and Ann have children baptised
frequently.
3 The
most likely baptism for Ann Lear is at Bridford in
April 1727 and the last recorded baptism of a child of Samuel and Ann at Hennock is in June 1775. By that time, the Ann baptised in 1727 would be no less than forty-eight years
old, which is rather late for childbearing, even if the child was a year or two
old when baptised.
The difficulties are not
necessarily insuperable, but more evidence would be needed to make the
connection clear.
Daniel Morgan has carried out
significant research on Sercombes of Devon and
elsewhere and has made information available on his website at www.mit.edu/~dfm/genealogy/sercombe.html.
I welcome comments on this
page. My e-mail address is on my home page.
SERCOMBE
1
SAMUEL SERCOMBE of Hennock, Devon, was buried on 18 July 1801 at Hennock.[2]
He married ANN.[3]
Children of Samuel and Ann Sercombe:
i ANN
SERCOMBE, bap 15 May 1755, Hennock;[4]
m 22 May 1776, Hennock, JOHN FURSE.[5]
ii WILLIAM SERCOMBE, bap 24 Mar 1757,
Hennock.[6]
iii SAMUEL SERCOMBE, bap 26 Apr 1759, Hennock,[7]
bur 24 Jun 1759, Hennock.[8]
iv ELIZABETH SERCOMBE, bap 26 Jun
1760, Hennock;[9]
m 4 Aug 1791, Hennock, JAMES SOPER.[10]
v SAMUEL SERCOMBE of Bovey Tracey,
yeoman, bap 21 Oct 1762, Hennock,[11]
d 27 Aug 1834, bur 1 Sep 1834, Bovey Tracey;[12]
m 30 May 1793, Hennock, DEBORAH EDWARDS.[13]
2 vi JOHN
SERCOMBE (1765-1812); m ELIZABETH (CLAMPITT) BASTARD.
vii THOMAS SERCOMBE, bap 31 Mar 1767, Hennock,[14]
bur 13 May 1767, Hennock.[15]
viii MARY SERCOMBE, bap 13 Oct 1768, Hennock,[16]
d 12 Oct 1848, Hennock;[17]
m(1) 22 Oct 1793, Hennock,
GILBERT EDWARDS;[18]
m(2) 21 Jun 1808, Hennock, WILLIAM STANBURY.[19]
ix SARAH SERCOMBE, bap 27 Jun 1771, Hennock,[20]
bur 30 Apr 1819, Dawlish;[21]
m 1 Oct 1794, Hennock, SAMUEL EDWARDS.[22]
x THOMAS SERCOMBE of Bovey Tracey
and Bristol, butcher, bap 29 Jun 1775, Hennock,[23]
bur 10 Sep 1848, St James, Bristol;[24]
m(1) 11 Sep 1800, Kenn, ELIZABETH PHILLIPS;[25]
m(2) 8 Oct 1832, St Paul, Bristol, ANN (HAMLIN) BENNETT.[26]
2 JOHN SERCOMBE of Bovey Tracey, soap
boiler, was baptised on 15 January 1765 at Hennock[27]
and buried on 31 July 1812 at Bovey Tracey.[28]
He married on 11 February 1790 at Bovey Tracey, ELIZABETH (CLAMPITT) BASTARD,[29]
widow of Naboth Bastard and daughter of John and Mary (Tozer) Clampitt (see here). Elizabeth
was baptised on 5 September 1762 at Bovey Tracey and died on 13 February 1836
at Bovey Tracey.
Children of John and Elizabeth (Clampitt) (Bastard) Sercombe:
i ELIZABETH
SERCOMBE, b 3 Dec 1790, bap 6 Jan 1791, Bovey Tracey,[30]
d 27 Feb 1847, Christow;[31]
m 11 Aug 1814, Bovey Tracey, RICHARD STRANGER[32]
(see here).
ii JOHN CLAMPITT SERCOMBE of Exeter, merchant,
b Bovey Tracey, bap 21 May 1793, Bovey Tracey,[33]
d 24 Aug 1856, Exeter;[34]
m 24 Feb 1820, Charles, Plymouth, ANN MURCH.[35]
iii MARY SERCOMBE, b Bovey Tracey, bap
14 Jan 1796, Bovey Tracey,[36]
bur 2 Aug 1856, Bovey Tracey;[37]
m 22 May 1820, Bovey Tracey, JOSEPH DAYMOND.[38]
iv GEORGE
SERCOMBE of Exeter, merchant, b Bovey Tracey, bap 4 Jan 1798, Bovey Tracey,[39]
d 9 Jul 1858, Exeter;[40]
m(1) 20 May 1824, Kingsbridge, GRACE (ODGERS) BAZELEY;[41]
m(2) 8 Nov 1855, Sampford Brett, GRACE CHAVE (CORNER)
STOATE.[42]
v ANN SERCOMBE, b 3 May 1800, bap 27
May 1802, Bovey Tracey,[43]
d 25 Apr 1849, Bovey Tracey;[44]
m 14 Nov 1822, Bovey Tracey, JOHN HEARN MUGFORD.[45]
vi JAMES SERCOMBE, bap 27 May 1802,
Bovey Tracey.[46]
vii SAMUEL SERCOMBE, bap 20 July 1804,
Bovey Tracey,[47]
bur 4 Jan 1805, Bovey Tracey.[48]
viii THOMAS SERCOMBE of Exeter and
Sydenham, wine merchant, b Bovey Tracey, bap 8 Jan 1808, Bovey Tracey,[49]
d 9 Dec 1892, Sydenham;[50]
m 22 Sep 1832, Crediton, JANE BURGE.[51]
[1] Bridford parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk); Bridford bishop’s transcripts.
[2] Hennock parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk).
[3] Ann is named in the baptism entries of her children.
[4] Hennock parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk).
[5] Hennock parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk).
[6] Hennock parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk).
[7] Hennock parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk).
[8] Hennock parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk).
[9] Hennock parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk).
[10] Hennock parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk). One of the executors of the 1812 will of John Sercombe of Bovey Tracey was James Soper of Hennock.
[11] Hennock parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk). An 1800 settlement examination of Jane Lovice states that she was apprenticed in Hennock to Samuel Sercombe, and one month before her time expired she moved with her master to Bovey Tracey (Devon Archives, catalogue entry for 2160A/PO/743). This may be either the Samuel Sercombe baptised in 1762 or his father.
[12] The estate duty copy of Samuel’s will, dated 10 Oct 1832 and proved 25 May 1838, gives his date of death as 27 Aug 1835 (Devon Archives, 1078/IRW/S/396). However, the correct year appears to be 1834, as his burial on 1 Sep appears in sequence in the 1834 entries in the Bovey Tracey parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk).
[13] Hennock parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk).
[14] Hennock parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk).
[15] Hennock parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk).
[16] Hennock parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk).
[17] The Western Times, 28 Oct 1848.
[18] Hennock parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk).
[19] Hennock parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk).
[20] Hennock parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk).
[21] Dawlish parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk).
[22] Hennock parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk).
[23] Hennock parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk).
[24] St James, Bristol, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[25] Kenn parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk).
[26] St Paul, Bristol, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com); St Philip and St Jacob, Bristol, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com); 1841 census returns, Bristol (National Archives, HO 107/372/3, fol. 19).
[27] Hennock parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk).
[28] Bovey Tracey parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk); will dated 14 Feb 1812, proved 4 Sep 1812 (Devon Archives, 1078/IRW/S/392).
[29] Bovey Tracey parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk); marriage allegation; Cecil Torr, Wreyland Documents (Cambridge, 1910), li.
[30] Bovey Tracey parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk); Bovey Tracey bishop’s transcripts; monumental inscription at Christow.
[31] Death certificate.
[32] Bovey Tracey parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk).
[33] Bovey Tracey parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk); 1851 census returns, Exeter (National Archives, HO 107/1868, fol. 502).
[34] The Western Times, 30 Aug 1856.
[35] Charles, Plymouth, parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk).
[36] Bovey Tracey parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk); 1851 census returns, Bovey Tracey (National Archives, HO 107/1870, fol. 564).
[37] Bovey Tracey parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk).
[38] Bovey Tracey parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk).
[39] Bovey Tracey parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk); 1851 census returns, Exeter (National Archives, HO 107/1869, fol. 347).
[40] Trewman’s Exeter Flying Post, 15 Jul 1858. Will dated 3 Dec 1855, with a codicil dated 8 Jul 1858, proved 2 Aug 1858.
[41] Kingsbridge parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk); Royal Cornwall Gazette, 29 May 1824.
[42] Sampford Brett parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[43] Bovey Tracey parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk).
[44] The Western Times, 28 Apr 1849.
[45] Bovey Tracey parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk).
[46] Bovey Tracey parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk).
[47] Bovey Tracey parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk); Bovey Tracey bishop’s transcripts.
[48] Bovey Tracey bishop’s transcripts.
[49] Bovey Tracey parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk); 1851 census returns, Exeter (National Archives, HO 107/1869, fol. 75).
[50] The Morning Post, 13 Dec 1892.
[51] Crediton parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk).
