Will of John Meaker of Stawell within the Parish of Moorlinch, Somerset,
dated 9 Sept. 1806.
Sum Sworn 100 pounds.
Executrix Ann Meaker
Legatee wife
"After the death of my wife my Dwelling House and Appurtenances at Stawell to my son Thomas for my term therein. The Residue for life after her decease between my sons Thomas and Richard and my son-in-law John Petherwin. If my wife should be distressed in circumstances she may dispose of my Personal Estate for her support."
It seems as though Ann Meaker might have become distressed as she vacated the house within a year. She presumably sold it so it never passed to Thomas, leaving his son William being only a labourer in the 1830's.
The name appears to have originated in Cornwall where there is a village or parish of that name (on the Devon-Cornwall border near Plymouth). So if the experts are right, someone left the village of Maker in Cornwall about 650 years ago, settled somewhere not too far away and took the name with him. Gradually the descendants spread out across the West Country and ? one reached Stawell in the 16th-17th Century perhaps, Bristol in the 19th, and where to now? Maker/Meaker name origins,
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