Something that may support that Coliver theory ...
In baptisms at the Corwall OPC site, St Germans baptisms, first that Richard:
- 1776, parents William and Grace COLIVER
Then, searching baptisms in St Germans 1760-1790, for baptisms with parents William and Grace:
Mary COLLIVER 1772
Mary COLLIVER 1774
> (Richard Coliver 1776)
Thomas
COLWELL 1778
Joan COLLAVER 1784
William Colliver and Grace Gibbons married in St Germans in 1771.
The database contains no William Colwell/Colwill + Grace marriage.
In St Germans baptisms,
- 1795 and 1804 there are baptisms to two unmarried Ms. Collivers
- 1808 to 1816 there are baptisms to Thomas Colliver and Susannah
- 1834 to 1838, there are baptisms to Thomas Colliver and Grace
Now, there are also numerous Colwell and Colwill couples baptising children there over the decades.
There are William Colliver baptisms in Tywardreath in 1733 and 1746.
Also a William Colwill baptism in Tremaine in 1753.
There is a William Colwell baptism in St Germans in 1755, parents Richard and Mary. (Also Elizabeth Colwell, same parents' names, 1744, buried 1764.)
Is it possible that the Col* baptisms in the 1770s and 1780s are all to the same couple, and Thomas Colwell was actually the odd one out, and the family surname was really Coliver/Colliver but got mutated to Colwell in his case (and maybe others in later life)?
Or conversely, was William Colwell baptised in 1755 the William Coliver who married in 1771 and Colwell was the original name?
Colliver burials in St Germans are William 1795 (55), Grace 1795 (50)and Thomas 1811 (3).
No Colwells to match any of the names above.
(The only Grace Gibbons baptism in the database was 1746 Morval, which matches that burial.
The William Colliver burial would match the William Colwell baptism if it was quite a late baptism ... There is no William Col* baptism circa 1840 in the database.)
(I was initially curious because I have a similar surname variant, with the l/r confusion: Fallowell comes out as Farrowell in some records, e.g. the mother's surname on my gr-grmother's birth cert, and the Farrowell spelling survived in one instance and went to Australia.
)