Great x4 Grandfather Thomas Brownscombe

My Great x4 Grandfather Thomas (1819 - 1859) was a sawyer and father of three.

Thomas was born around 1819 in Bratton Fleming, Devon, to Thomas Brownscombe, a farmer, and Mary Ann Brownscombe (nee Parkin) (about 25).

Thomas was baptised on 14th March 1819, in Bratton Fleming. Thomas' parents had married less than two months earlier, on 17th January 1819, implying Thomas' mother Mary Ann was heavily pregnant when she married. Thomas was likely named for his father.

Thomas was the eldest of ten children (five sons and five daughters):

• Thomas  1819 -
• William  1821 -
• Mary  1823 -
• John  1824 - 
• Ann  1826 -
• Kitty  1828 -
• Sarah  1830 -  
• James  1833 -
• Edward  1835 -
• Grace  1838 -

All ten siblings were baptised and brought up in Bratton Fleming. And all seem to have survived into adulthood.

In Apr/May/Jun 1840, when Thomas was about twenty-one, his father of the same name passed away. Interestingly Thomas senior left a will! (That's something to do, when this pandemic is over - go find that will and give it a read. And for now wonder why a lovely farm didn't come my way?) By the looks of later census, the Brownscombe family farm, Haxton Farm in Bratton Fleming, went to Thomas' younger brother, the second son William. Why was this?

The 1841 Census shows Thomas' widowed mother, Mary Ann, and his nine younger siblings living on the family farm, with twenty year old William now listed as its farmer. Meanwhile, twenty-two year old Thomas lived at what is called the 'great house' in Bratton Fleming, with the young Martin family, working as an apprentice. It is hard to make out what head of the household, John Martin's occupation is - it seems to say 'Cartinper'. After lots of searching, I've come to the conclusion, that the person compiling the census, may have simply misspelt carpenter, putting the t and p the wrong way around. It would make sense for Thomas to have been apprentice to a carpenter, as he was later recorded on the 1851 Census as a sawyer.

1841 Census:

In Oct/Nov/Dec 1841, Thomas (about 22), a sawyer, married Maria Popham (about 22), a charwoman, in the district of Barnstaple.

Thomas and Maria had three daughters:

• Elizabeth 'Bessie/Betsy' 1843 -
• Mary Ann  1846 -
• Katherine 'Kitty'  1850 -

The three girls were baptised and brought in their father's native Bratton Fleming.

1851 Census:

In Oct/Nov/Dev 1859, Thomas passed away, aged only about forty, in the district of Barnstaple. To support themselves: his widow Maria found work as a domestic cook for the household of Rev. Humphrey Senhouse Pinder, the generous rector of Bratton Fleming; whilst her young daughters worked as domestic servants on local farms.