Chapter 3: WILLIAM SIEVIER/SEVIOR/SIOVER of CLOFORD, SOMERSET

Somerset borders the Bristol Channel on the north and contains a central lowland area surrounded by ranges of hills. To the west is the scenic upland area of Exmoor. Somerset is known for its cider making and dairying, the town of Cheddar here having given its name to the famous cheese. The hilly districts are rich in minerals, especially dolomite and barytes. Somerset has evidence of prehistoric habitation, including a lake dwelling near Glastonbury. The Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex absorbed the area in the 7th century. In the early 10th century an episcopal see was established at Wells, which has a notable cathedral.

Even today Cloford is little more than a hamlet situated mid-way between Frome and Midsomer Norton. The Ordnance Survey map of 1900 shows a very small number of cottages clustered near to the church and Cloford house.

Cloford in 1900

William was born at the end of seventeenth century, in to a period of great political turmoil. James II had just put down the rebellion led by the illegitimate son of Charles II, James Scott Duke of Monmouth, in 1685, before losing the throne to his nephew William III (William of Orange) in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Cloford was probably affected during the earlier rebellion as the Duke’s army returning from their failed attack on Bristol passed along the Frome to Shepton Mallet road to the north of the hamlet.

William Sievier was in all probability an agricultural labourer. At a time when the population of England and Wales is estimated to have been 5,250,000 the vast majority of the work force where employed on the land in conditions which were often little removed from serfdom. The Lord of the Manor owned the land, letting the farms to tenant farmers who employed the labourers. The Lord also usually owned all the houses in a parish, the lets of which were tied to the farms on which the labourers worked. At the beginning of the eighteenth century agricultural labourers typically earned seven shillings (35p) a week.Agricultural techniques were little changed from the Middle Ages. The three-field system of farming was still prevalent, with one field being used for arable crops, the second for pasture and the third left fallow. Each year the cropping was rotated around the three fields.

In the eighteenth century literacy was virtually unknown among the labouring classes, hence William was unable to tell the parish clerk how to spell his name when he came to marry and baptise his children.

Shepton Mallet born Elizabeth Adams married William in Cloford parish church on 17 February 1717. They had at least five children. Two of these died in infancy. The death of one of these, Henry, is evident from the baptism of namesake two years later. This reuse of Christian names was a common practice in the era of high infant mortality. The second Henry married and fathered ten children of his own in Cloford. Three of these, all girls, are known to have died in infancy, resulting in three being baptised with the name Betty. Henry is recorded under an even wider range of surname spellings than his father is! Henry had an older brother, John, who married Elizabeth King, see Chapter 4.

William died in November 1764 and was buried in Cloford churchyard. His widow died, perhaps of a broken heart, less than six weeks later.

     William SIEVIER/SEVIOR/SIOVIER b.? d.1764 m.Elizabeth ADAMS  
        John SIEVIER/SIOVIOUR/SIOVIER/SIEVIOUR/SEVIER b.c1720 d.c1795 m.Elizabeth KING (Chapter 4)  
        Edward SIEVIER b.1723 
        Henry SIEVIER  b.1725 d.1726
        Henry SEVIOR/SEIVIOUR/SIOVIOUR/SIOVIER b.1727 d.1801 m.Susanna HILL
            Mary SIOVIOUR b.1751 d.1751
            Mary SIOVIOUR b.1752 
            Betty SIOVIOUR b.1754 d.1754
            James SIOVIOUR b.1755 m.Mary -    
                Richard SEVIOR b.1778 
            Betty SIOVIOUR b.1757 d.1757
            Joseph SIOVIER b.1760 
            Charles SIOVIOUR b.1763 m.#1 Mary - #2 Judith JOYCE
            Betty SIOVIOUR b.1766 
            Jane SIOVIOUR b.1770 d.>1798 m.George SCAMMELL 
                George SCAMMELL b.1796
                Ann SCAMMELL b.1798
            Rachel SIOVIOUR b.1773 
        William SIEVIER b.<1737 d.1737