Robert Symons, farmer, St. Keverne

[tenterfieldjulie]

My ancestor had a farm of 18 acres at Kilter in the St. Keverne area of Cornwall in the 1851 Census. He died and was buried 7 June 1852 at St. Keverne. I am not sure if I have asked before, can anyone find, or tell me where to look for a will? I seem to recall that sometimes it could have been handed on with a verbal arrangement? Or could he have been called a farmer and just have been working the land for someone else? Thanks.

[ElizabethHerts]

I have looked at CROCAT but haven't found anything yet, Julie:

http://crocat.cornwall.gov.uk/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Overview.tcl&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqSearch=%28%28%28text%29=%27Symons%27%29AND%28Ti tle=%27will%27%29%29&dsqPos=6&dsqNum=50

[ElizabethHerts]

Unfortunately even if Robert made a will it might not have survived, as many wills were destroyed in the Blitz (some Cornish wills, including some from my Cornish ancestors, were proved in Devon):

"Why does Devon have no original wills?

Wills which had been proved in the archdeaconry courts in Totnes and Barnstaple before 1858 were eventually moved from there to the Probate Office in Exeter, as were the wills from the different Exeter courts, which had been stored in various places in the Cathedral. In 1908 Edward Fry wrote

" it was a red-letter day……….when these documents were transferred to their present resting place in Exeter".

"Unfortunately, in 1942 the Probate Registry was destroyed in the bombing during the Exeter Blitz of the Second World War, and all the wills were burnt. This means that all the original wills kept in the various church courts and in the Probate Registry in Exeter, no longer exist - a great loss for those researching Devon families. However, copies of some wills do survive - read about how to locate existing copies of Devon wills. "

[Janet in Yorkshire]

Perhaps he was a tenant farmer, renting rather than owning the land.
In that case, there may have been stock and tools etc to dispose of.
Quite often tenancies were passed on to another family member, but you would be very lucky to find any paper trail of such an arrangement. Do you know who had the "farm" after him? 15 acres sounds like a couple of fields, perhaps for grazing?

Jay

[tenterfieldjulie]

Thanks Elizabeth. Most things that get destroyed out here are due to flood or fire or possibly neglect, we forget that more than lives were lost due to wars.

[tenterfieldjulie]

Thanks Jay I will have a look at the Census and see if any of the male lines stayed at Kilter. My line was through the a female, who came to Australia, as did her sister.

[Olde Crone]

There are many leases and sub leases for Kilter over the centuries and I suspect your man was only a leaseholder. The land was owned by a Colonel Willyams for some of that time and it looks as if he might be part of the wider Lemon family, who were leading Cornish landowners.

OC

[ElizabethHerts]

Thanks Elizabeth. Most things that get destroyed out here are due to flood or fire or possibly neglect, we forget that more than lives were lost due to wars.

OT slightly - I remember Exeter in the 1950s and large parts of it were still a bomb site. You were spoilt for choice for parking! I remember the rebuilding of large parts of the city centre. Thank God the Cathedral survived, with just slight damage.

[Olde Crone]

This looks a really interesting site and you can email for a detailed tree of the Symons family.

http://www.st-keverne.com/history/search/hsearchx.php

OC

[ElizabethHerts]

What a great site, OC!

[tenterfieldjulie]

Thanks OC. I have been on there before, but there are things I haven't seen before. I haven't seen Terry's site and he has lots of different lines that I am desceded from. A fellow from Armidale Heritage has ancestors there and he says that it is one of the best sites he has seen, he recommends them highly. Thank you.

[kiterunner]

If he left a will then there should be an entry in the Index to Death Duties Register (on findmypast).

[ElizabethHerts]

I've already looked, Kate, and didn't see anything, unfortunately.

[kiterunner]

I wonder whether FMP (or any other site) are ever going to make a searchable database from the Index to Death Duty Registers. I would have thought it would be much more useful than what they have at the moment, and surely not that hard to do.