We have heard how my great great grandfather, Richard Stranger (1825-1882) moved his family to Porthallow, near Talland in Cornwall, around 1871. Already in the area were a long-established Cornish farming family with the surname Serpell.
William Serpell was born c.1793 in Liskeard and married Mary Carswell (also of Liskeard). William initially farmed at Butterdon Farm, Menheniot, but by 1841 they were farming at Newton Ferrers, St. Mellion, with their two sons William Thomas (born 1823) and George Richards (born 1834). Their eldest son, John Carswell Serpell (born c.1818 in Duloe) had already set up on his own as a farmer at Butterdon, but by 1851 had taken over the farm at Newton Ferrers from his father when the latter moved to Treworgey Farm, Duloe. John’s first wife Emma (nee Hocken) had already died by this time (in 1850).
By 1861, John Carswell Serpell and his second wife Mary (nee Short) and family were farming at Killigarth Barton, Talland. His youngest son William (born 1854) later married Bessie Berry Stranger, daughter of Richard, in 1877 at Talland and began farming at East (or Great) Kellow Farm, Lansallos, where they remained until at least 1891. They then appear to have moved to Plymouth, where William died in around 1898 at the age of 44 and Bessie died in about 1903. It is not known why they made this move (although it has been suggested that the great blizzard of 1891 may have been a factor) or what William's occupation (or intended occupation) would have been.
Also by 1861, George Richards Carswell (younger brother of John Carswell Serpell) and family were farming at Treworgey Farm (presumably taking it over from father William). His son William (born 1857) later married Dorrie Stranger (Bessie's sister) in 1879 at Talland and began farming at Lansallos, where they stayed until at least 1883, although later moving to Devon and then to Charlecote in Warwickshire, where they are found in 1901, still farming. However, things started to go wrong and William went bankrupt in 1907. They are found at a Farm Training Colony in Surrey in 1911 (although whether as trainers or trainees is not clear) and later moved to South Wales where Dorrie died on 15th April 1925 and William died 6 days later.
So we have two sisters, Bessie and Dorrie Stranger, marrying two cousins, both named William Serpell, in Cornwall. And, as we shall see, their brothers, Edward and Charles Stranger, married two sisters, Bessie and Susie Baron, also in Cornwall. But by 1901, all had left Cornwall for good.