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| St. Augustine's Church, West Monkton |
Richard Rowsell was born in 1720, in Shepton Beauchamp, Somerset.
He was the only child of William Rowswell (1720-1772) and Sarah (unmarried name, unknown) (1704 - )
He married Elizabeth ("Betty") Cure (1729-1770) on December 28, 1745, at the Church of St. Augustine in West Monkton, Somerset. She was 16 at the time, having just pass her last birthday in March. Richard was 25. She was originally from Barnstaple in Devon, the daughter of John and Elizabeth Cure.
Richard and Betty had 8 children, all in West Monkton:
John Rowsell (1748 - May 1775)
James Rowsell (August 1751 - March 1796)
Mary Agnes Rowsell (Jan 1754 - )
Sarah Rowsell (July 1756 - )
Richard Rowsell (Feb 1759 - )
Amos Rowsell (Dec 1761 - 1793)
Joel Rowsell (Mar 1764 - Oct 18 1844)
Aaron Rowsell (1766 - Mar 14 1852)
(It seems to have been in West Monkton that the surname was changed from "Rowswell" to "Rowsell". Perhaps in the hands of a new community, where the Rowswell name was less common than it was in Shepton Beauchamp, it was simply transcribed differently in the Parish records. Or perhaps Richard deliberately changed the name for a particular reason. If anyone runs into Richard, please ask him, for me, won't you?)
Richard died in Staplegrove, Somerset, in 1772. Elizabeth pre-deceased Richard by 2 years, having passed away in 1770. Perhaps Richard was staying with one of his children in Staplegrove, in his declining years.
