Sommerwill -a Devon Family: Somerset Group 1

 

Group S - Somerset & Gloucestershire Groups and Fragments

 

Click here for a map of Somerset parishes

Click here for Somerset Group S2 (Bishop's Lydeard, Nettlecombe, Bristol from 1776)

Click here for other Somerset Groups and Fragments

Family Origins in Somerset

Genealogical information for Somerset has not been as readily available as for Devon until quite recently. Little work had been done in the early 20th century to transcribe registers, and very few Somerset parishes were included in the International Genealogical Index (IGI). However, a remarkable card index of baptisms and marriages in about one third of Somerset parishes, with over one million names, was compiled by the late Dr Neville Campbell (died 1991), which is available on microfiche at the Somerset Record Office, and much computerised transcription work is now going on, the fruits of which are available on the web at www.freereg.org.uk . These, combined with the online 19th century censuses, have brought to light a considerable number of Somerwills and Somerfields in Somerset and Gloucestershire.

The Somerset evidence remains fragmentary, and I have not gathered all that is available, so my reconstructions are necessarily somewhat tentative and very incomplete.

My first interest in examining the Somerset data was to establish if there was any connection with the prestigious and wealthy Somervilles of Dinder, near Wells, one of whom, the Honourable Hugh, lived at Fitzhead, near Taunton. They have turned up very little, and I still have no clear family outline for them. Not can I make much of the several marriages of Somervilles at Bath.

What has been interesting has been the unexpected discovery that the Somerfields and Summerfields, who are much more abundant and traceable, are most probably descendants of the Devon Somerwill ancestors, though the family tree split at too early a stage for the links to be discovered, as it occurred before parish registers came into being.

The striking thing about the data is that the pattern of spread of Somerwills/Somerfields in Somerset mirrors that in Devon, with the earliest parish register entries being nearest to the place of family origin in Witheridge/Thelbridge, and later entries being progressively further off, though at really quite a small distance, as the map above shows. The earliest spelling is almost always '-ville' or '-will', but gradually this changed in the 18th century to '-field' or even to 'Summerill' or Summerell', a variation that does not occur in Devon.

Thus we find Somerville at Dulverton 1596, Somerwell at Dunster in 1618, Somerwill at Nettlecombe in 1653. Thereafter the bulk of the family—whose family trade seems to have blacksmithing—lived in the Nettlecombe/Williton/Bishop's Lydeard triangle for the most part, with smaller groups going further afield towards the Taunton area. Some moved to Bristol in the 19th century.

Group S1 (Nettlecombe) Summerwill/Summervill/Somerfield/Somerill

Richard Richard & Joan Josias & Mary/Frances Sarah Catharine Richard & Elizabeth Sarah Frances George & Mary Elizabeth John & Mary Joan & Thomas Elizabeth John & Mary Josiah Mary Frances Richard Elizabeth William Martha Betty Click on a label for details

Group S1a (Nettlecombe) Somerwill/Somerville/Somerfield

Josias & Mary/Frances Jane Joan Frances Josias & Joan John Joan & Bridget Josiah & Eleanor James William Charles Martha & Martin Joan Jane Charles Josiah Group S1 Click on a label for details