We
have seen family trees ascribing up to three more children to this
couple: John, said to be baptised 8 Feb 1795 but not found in the parish
register of Zeal; Mary said to have died in Coldridge in 1796 and even
a Grace, born in Zeal in 1834, many years after John's death.
In
Issue 24, in an article about village poor houses, we referred to two
children - William and Richard Stentiford - whose parish records still
exist and who were sent out as apprentices in 1801 by the parish council
of Spreyton, William then being aged 12 and Richard 7. Both remained in that
village throughout their lives. Later on, when hard times came along, responsibility for William and his
family was taken by the parish council who housed them in their Poor
House. After his apprenticeship at an estate called Barton
, Richard spent most of his working life at another large farm
called Falkedon a couple of miles to the south of Spreyton
village but still within the parish.
There
is no doubt that this John and Elizabeth had a child who they named Richard
and whose baptism appears in the Zeal Parish Register dated 18 May 1794.
If the child named Richard and apprenticed in Spreyton in 1801 was that son, what is extremely odd is why Spreyton Parish Council accepted financial
responsibility for him and bore the cost of his upkeep since his
birth was not registered there. The Poor
Laws had to be strictly adhered to and they limited each parish to
supporting those who were born in the place or who acquired Settlement. There
are no application papers in Spreyton for Settlement by John and
Elizabeth Stentiford - in fact, there is no real evidence that they ever
left Zeal Monachorum.
The only
possible explanation is that the "Spreyton" Richard is a
different child and that he and William were brothers. John
Stentiford's parents - Richard Stentiford and Mary Corin - had two more
sons - yet another William (born in 1757) and another Richard (born in
1764). Could the Spreyton boys be the sons of one of them?
Spreyton's
contiguous parishes are North Tawton. Bow, Clannaborough, Drewsteignton,
Hittisleigh and South Tawton. North Tawton and Drewsteignton are not in
the IGI. Some of the Birth and Marriage records for South Tawton which are
included in the IGI cease after 1738 leaving a huge gap for researchers.
Anyone
working on family history in this area of Devon should remember the tremendous
impact made by John and Charles Wesley who stopped to preach in nearby
Sticklepath on their journeys to and from Cornwall in the 18th century.
Non-conformism spread like wildfire all over the surrounding district
and baptisms often took place within the home of the child. Some non-conformist Baptismal registers with early records covering many
of the parishes mentioned above still exist and can be examined at the Devon Record
Office - in other cases, however, no records were ever kept.
