The antecedents of Gabriel Blewett (1799-1870)

Gabriel Blewett, born in Perranuthnoe in 1799, was the son of Gabriel and Ann Blewett. I have yet to find a marriage record for Gabriel and Ann Blewett in Cornwall, which is where I expected them to have married.

Perhaps they did not marry in Cornwall. A Gabriel Blewett married Ann Varker at St Marylebone's London on 18 November 1790 (Reference). Could this be my Gabriel and Ann? Why London? This Gabriel and Ann Blewett had a son William BAKER Blewett, baptised 1 May 1791 (born 15 April 1791) at St Marylebone's - (Reference). Was Varker a mistake for Baker on their marriage record? No. The baptism record states Baker as William's middle name and Ann signed her name Varker on the marriage record.

I thought this was probably a rabbit hole and not my Gabriel and Ann. However, Gabriel Blewett of Perranuthnoe was witness (along with William Freethy), 27 April 1799, to the marriage of Henry Gundry Jnr (St Erth) and Jenefer VARKER (of this parish). (William Freethy and Gabriel Blewett were also witnesses to the marriage of Henry White (Madron, husbandman) and Mary Ladnar (otp) in Perranuthnoe, 1 February 1800.) Perhaps this is just a coincidence. The name Varker is strong in this part of Cornwall. Ann Varker who married in London may have been the Ann Varker baptised at St Marylebone's in London in 1767, born to Diana Varker and James Weston (Reference - which reads 'Ann Varker of Diana Varker & James Weston), but alternatively may have been Ann Vercoe baptised in Perranuthnoe in 1767.

A Gabriel and Ann Blewett had a son Edward in Gwinear, Cornwall, baptised 27 December 1795 - (Reference). On the same day and same place, listed in the Baptism register directly above the entry for the child Edward Blewett, an Edward and Mary Blewett had a son John Blewett baptised too. Could this Gabriel and Edward have been brothers or cousins? Gabriel Blewett, the husband of Ann, by process of elimination, may be the son of Edward and Elizabeth Bluett/Blewett of Gwithian, who had at least seven children: Edward (1751), William (1759), John (1761), Ann (1763), Thomas (1765), Gabriel (1767) and Bennet (1769). This relationship requires more research. Update: DNA evidence suggests this is not the line of descent, rather it is Gabriel Blewett, born 1766 in Crowan (6 April 2021).

I think it is likely that this Gabriel and Ann Blewett were also the parents of my Gabriel Blewett, born in Perranuthnoe. Perranuthnoe Gabriel and Ann had two more children, both daughters named Elizabeth who didn't live beyond a year (1804-1806 and 1808-1809).

I think, by process of elimination, that the Edward Blewett born in 1795 to Gabriel and Ann is likely the Edward Blewett who married at Madron in 1821 to Parthenia Poole (my Gabriel married Ruth Waters at Madron in 1824). Ancestry users disagree, but like me, without concrete evidence (although Parthenia Edward's death year of 1847, aged 57, suggests caution). Edward and Parthenia Blewett had moved to London by the time of the birth of their first child, and were still there at the time of the 1841 census. In London Edward and Parthenia had a son William BARKER Blewett in 1822 - (Reference). A coincidence too?

Now that I'm thinking about it, related Blewetts in London may explain my Gabriel's daughter Emma Blewett's being there in 1861.

So, does the closeness of the names of William Baker/Barker Blewett mean anything? What ho, perhaps it does!

Because a William VARKER Blewett of Helston married Elizabeth Hosking of Marazion at St Hilary, 27 March 1820 (Reference). Perranuthnoe, Marazion, St Hilary and Helston are all in the same area. Gwithian is further away, but still in the west of Cornwall. Searching Cornwall OPC baptisms, William appears as William Parker Blewett, William Varther Blewett and William Varker Blewett. He and Elizabeth had at least 6 children between 1822 and 1833. William's occupation in the baptism records was given as clerk/attorney's clerk (1822-1823) and schoolmaster (1828). His first four children were born in Helston, then St Hilary and Truro. A transcript of some testimony (1843) published by the Cornwall OPC (Reference) indicates that William Varker Blewett, 'a Clerk in the employ of Mr Roberts of this place [Helston] Solicitor', had been dead several, perhaps ten, years. As he had been in fact, dying in Truro in 1833, aged 42, which makes his birth year 1791 (Reference).

Could Gabriel and Ann have met in London, where they married and had their first child, this William Varker Blewett, returned to Cornwall, had their second son, Edward, in Gwithian (probably Gabriel's home town), then moved to Perranuthnoe, where they had my Gabriel (1799-1870) and their two daughters? Then this Edward, William and Gabriel's brother, would go on to name his first son, born in 1822, William Parker Blewett (birth certificate), but who grew up as William Varker Blewett? Or is it all a coincidence?