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)
AMBROSE BREWER and JOAN (10)
AMBROSE BREWER was born in Rose Ash, a village a little to the west of the road from South Molton to Tiverton. He was baptised there on 1 Sep 1639, in the closing years of the reign of Charles I. He was the son, possibly the oldest, of Oliver and Grace Bruer. His mother and younger sister died when he was three, leaving him with his father and a baby brother.
The only marriage which has yet been found for him is to Elizabeth Gregory, on 15 July 1665 in Witheridge. By now, King Charles had been beheaded, Oliver Cromwell’s Commonwealth had come and gone, and plague was sweeping London under its new king Charles II.
Ambrose remained in Witheridge. Elizabeth must have died, because there are baptism records for his children in which their mother’s name is Joan. She may have come from another parish, where the marriage took place.
There were four sons.
Baptisms. Witheridge.
1675(6) John sonne of Ambrose Brewer & Joane his wife baptized the 19th day of February
1678 Ambrose son of Ambrose Brewer & Joan his wife was baptized ye 9th day of June
Ambrose’s namesake died.
Burial. Witheridge.
1679(80) Ambrose son of Ambrose Brewer was buryed ye 4th day of February
Baptisms. Witheridge.
1681 Richard son of Ambrose Brewer & Joan his wife was baptized ye 22th day of May
1683 Robert son of Ambrose Brewer & Joan his wife was baptized ye 21th day of December
Robert also died.
1685 Robert son of Ambrose Brewer was buryed ye 22th day of September
John is recorded in adulthood as a daylabourer. Richard begins as a daylabourer, but is later a mason. It may be that this was Ambrose’s trade too.
Joan died in Witheridge in 1708
1708 Joan wife of Ambrose Brewer was buried ye 28th day of November
Ambrose outlived her by four years. By the time he died he was an ‘almsperson’, perhaps living in the local almshouse and receiving parish support.
1712 Ambrose Brewer almsperson was Buryed ye 10th of June
NEXT GENERATION: 9. BREWER-BOWDON
PREVIOUS GENERATIONS: 11. BRUER