Family Ties in Tidball Tax Records

If Thomas Tiboald of Cutcomb was the same man as Thomas Tidball of North Molton (see December 8 and 15 posts), what explains him taking up land at Thorne farm in Cutcombe when he was in his 50s? The most likely answer is family ties.

You might recall that Walter and Elizabeth Tidball of Exford baptized eight children between 1728 and 1745, including Thomas (1739), a sister Annis (1730), and six brothers: Alexander (1728), Walter (1731), Richard (1734), Gregory (1737), John (1742), and William (1745).

In last week's post, we learned that Thomas Tidball was proprietor of Thorne Sheaf farm in neighboring Cutcombe Parish between 1793 and 1804. Also appearing in the Cutcombe land tax assessment lists were Richard and Alexander Tidball/Tudball. Plausibly, they were Thomas' brothers.

• Richard was an occupier of Hole Moor (Thomas Dyke, proprietor) from at least 1784 to 1808. His identity is not certain, but he could have been Richard born at Exford in 1734. He was likely the Richard Tidboald who died of "old age" and was buried at Exford in 1810. He would have been about 74.
• Alexander was an occupier of South Hill from 1795 to 1801. Alexander was buried 22 March 1801 at Cutcombe. Because parish burial records before 1812 did not usually record the age of the deceased, it is difficult to know Alexander's identity with certainty. He could have been the Alexander born 1728 at Exford. He also could have been the Exford Alexander's son, baptized to Alexander and Anne Tudball 10 October 1761 at Cutcombe. However, this younger Alexander was buried at Cutcombe in December 1833; he was 72.

The younger Alexander also was an occupier in Cutcombe parish. He occupied land of John Avis from 1814 to 1822 and occupied Quarn (proprietor, Richard White) from 1823 to 1833.

The proximity of these farms to the Thorne farm held by Thomas Tidball from 1793 to 1804 is the clincher for the family ties argument. South Hill was a half-mile north of Luckwell Bridge. Quarn was less than a mile east of Luckwell Bridge. Thorne farm was a half-mile southeast of Luckwell Bridge. According to parish records, only one Tidball/Tudball/Tidboald family lived in the Exford-Cutcombe area from the 1720s to the 1830s, and all the Tidball farms appearing in the Cutcombe tax records were within a mile of each other.

Locations based on Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record (http://www.exmoorher.co.uk/home); Locations mapped using Grid Reference Finder (https://www.gridreferencefinder.com/)

NOTE: The last sentence of the December 22 post incorrectly stated that Lyddicombe (the Tidball farm in North Molton) was a half-mile from Luckwell Bridge. It should have stated that Thorne farm was a half-mile from Luckwell Bridge. A correction has been made.