Puzzles and Issues:

Who were Samuel and Mary Venn?

Esau Venn, (the thatcher), was baptised in Stogumber Parish Church on 3 April 1796. The baptismimal register clearly states that he was the son of Samuel & Mary Venn. And this is where the trail goes cold.

No record of a marriage between a Samuel Venn and a Mary has yet been found that would be reasonable for them to have a child in 1796.

Here are the clues to date!!!

• There was another Samuel Venn living in Stogumber at the time, but his wife was called Betty. It is possible that the vicar miswrote Betty's name in the register, but it seems like a risky assumption to make.
• A Samuel Venn died in Vellow Poor House 14 April 1833 (not the Samuel married to Betty, he died in 1815). But Samuel in the Poor House was aged 84 when he died, which would make him 47 when Esau was born. Possible, but he would need a younger wife in order to be Esau's father. This could, however, be the Samuel Venn that married Sarah Parsons
• A widow, Mary Venn, is living in the Stogumber Almshouses on the 1841 and 1851 censuses. She is quite elderly, she would have been over 30 at the time of Esau's birth. She is somehow connected to the Williams family as on both census, one or other of the daughters of Robert Williams, a local widower, is living with her. Apart from the coincidence of her name and village, there is no known connection to our Samuel.
• Esau was a thatcher. The only other thatchers in Stogumber were..... Samuel Venn (son of Samuel and Betty) and his sons. This seems like more than a coincidence. At very least it would suggest there is some kind of connection between the famiies.
• Esau had a daughter, Jane, who married a baker, John Sully, in Watchet. On the 1861 census, lodging in their household was William Venn, son of Samuel Venn the thatcher's son, Samuel (also a thatcher). Again, it suggests a connection between the families.

At the moment, the very flimsy evidence is pointing towards an error on the part of the vicar when entering Esau's mother's name in the Parish Registers. However, this is such an assumption to make, I am currently not prepared to make it.....

Any input - even if it is eliminating sources - is appreciated.