8. WIDDICOMBE

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Fay Sampson’s Family History

This site is a work-in-progress. There is a massive amount to cover. I have included both male and female lines, and some go back 30 generations. Keep coming back for more.
I have numbered the generations working backwards from my own as (1)

 

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RICHARD WIDDICOMBE and SUSAN (8)

 

RICHARD WIDDICOMBE is the son of another Richard Widdicombe or Withecombe. His mother’s name is unknown, though it may possibly have been Jane. He was baptised in the parish church of North Bovey, on the eastern edge of Dartmoor, in 1685. This was the year Charles II died and was succeeded by James II.

Baptism. North Bovey.
1684(5)  Withicombe, Richard  s. of Richard.  Mar 25

He had a younger brother John. Two older Withicombe boys, also sons of Richard, were buried in North Bovey before he was born.

There is some slight evidence that his extended family, at least, had Puritan sympathies and may therefore not have welcomed the licentiousness of the Restoration period and the Catholic leanings of King James.

Richard’s father died in 1701, when Richard was 16 and his brother 14. They were probably out at work by then, or helping their father with his farm or trade. They had an uncle in the village, who may have helped them.

 

SUSAN’s marriage to Richard has not been found in North Bovey. She was probably living in a parish not represented on the IGI.

 

They had two children baptised in North Bovey.

1711  Widdicombe, Susanna  d. of Richard & Susan.  Mar 25
1712  Widdicomb, John  s. of Richard.  Jun 24.

 

Neither of their burials has been found. Given the small number of children, Susan may have died after John’s birth, and been buried in a neighbouring parish. Or the whole family may have moved to another parish, with further christenings there.

 

 

 

NEXT GENERATION: 7. WIDECOMBE-FROST

PREVIOUS GENERATIONS: 9. WITHECOMBE

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