Bowerman, Samuel

Also known as: Burman/Barman

Singer

Collection date: Apr 1908

Area: Somerset - Taunton District

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Samuel Bowerman (Barman) at Durston (1840-1913): age 68, 6 songs (FT1609ff) on 6 Apr 1908: Sharp misheard Samuel’s surname as ‘Barman’ and the location has been misread (FT1609, 1610) as ‘Dunster’. Maud Karpeles read his name as ‘Burman’ in her OUP collection 1974. There were no Barmans nor Burmans at Dunster; and anyway Sharp was nowhere near Dunster on the day in question.

The singer is definitely Samuel Bowerman of Durston. He was born in Pitminster on 6/11/1840, illegitimate son of Ann Bowerman. She then married John Stevens, widower on 13/9/1846 at Pitminster church. Samuel was baptised there on 9/5/1847. He was living with his stepfather and his mother in Pitminster in the 1851 census. On 9/1/1870, aged 29, he married Sarah Ann Kearle, a widow aged 27 at Durston church. Sarah Ann was a glover and Samuel an agricultural labourer. They lived in Durston for the rest of their lives and they had 7 children, 2 of whom died young. Samuel died January qr 1913 aged 72 (5c 412).