Working up the Siffleet tree in Sussex, I came across this wonderful mine of information in the will of Thomas Siffleet, "signed in Dec 1806" - obviously quite a wealthy landowner.
http://www.sussex-opc.org/index.php?n=siffleet&t=will&k=105&l=102Firstly (almost as an aside), there is this burial record
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KG8P-93M:
Name Thomas Sifflet
Event Type Burial
Event Date 03 May 1806
Event Place Streat, Sussex, England
Age 74
Birth Year (Estimated) 1732
- which looks like a perfect fit until it dawns that his burial apparently took place 7 months before the will was signed. A bit strange because the name is unusual (even when misspelt). So is there any chance that the signing of the will could refer to a date after the death of the man who made the will?
Just trying to stick with what is already known, the nephew Thomas (1761-1843) referred to in the will, married to Ann (unknown birth name), has children Thomas, Sarah, Josiah, William and Michael DOBs between 1790 and 1802 and Elizabeth. Here in the will a James and Stephen are mentioned (and there's a Robert born later).
As far as I can see, the will refers to 3 nephews - Thomas, Michael and Josiah - c. 1760s.
The only brother mentioned is the late James, leaving a daughter Jemima. Brother-in-law Soper is presumably a sister's husband? (I'm still a bit confused about the Sopers, but will come back to them.)
Not mentioned, as far as I can see, is the name of nephew Thomas' father (who may be the John who pays land tax in Stockbury in Kent in 1798 and married to an Elizabeth Redman, but that marriage is only on an Ancestry tree and I've so far been unable to verify this).
Nephew Michael has sons James, William and Michael, and daughters Hannah Collins (married to Thomas in Worth, 1802) and Elizabeth Siffleet. I found records for Ellizabeth and Hannah Siffleet, baptised in Worth in 1803 and 1802 respectively, daughters of Michael and Elizabeth - these must be the then infant daughters of the nephew Michael's son, Michael?
In the meantime, I found the record of an Elizabeth Siffleet who dies in Worth aged 52 in 1803 (b.c. 1751) - no idea where she fits in. Seems a bit late to be mother of the 1802-3 girls - unless the age is a bit out and she died in childbirth... [Will ignore this for now.]
There's a number of other Siffleets on FS, but I'm just concentrating on the relationships in the will for now. This one is not for the faint-hearted, but if anyone has the time and will to have a look and confirm or disprove any of my assumptions, I'd appreciate it. My main interest is in the nephew Thomas' line, but having encountered this information, thought I'd attempt to fill what I can in of the others. But I think that I'm going to move on to trying to establish the father of "John", Thomas the elder and James when I come back to it next.
(I did also find some 1798 land tax payments by Thomas for land in Newick and Chailey, and noticed that the land called Trick in the will is actually ffrick/Frick.)