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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: Leah-WW on Tuesday 17 July 12 20:06 BST (UK)

Title: Why would a young man move about in the C18?
Post by: Leah-WW on Tuesday 17 July 12 20:06 BST (UK)
My 6xG-Grandfather - Thomas - was born in Tuxford, Nottinghamshire and lived either there or in Marnham, Nottinghamshire for most of his life from what I can tell. Inexplicably though, in 1778 he has moved to Saxilby, Lincolnshire and married my 6xG-Grandmother - Ann.

I can find no local birth record for Ann, so I can't confidently assume that she was a resident of Saxilby. Their marriage doesn't appear to have been a 'hasty' one (their first child didn't come along until 11 months after the marriage), so I also can't assume that they 'had' to go off and get married. Saxilby isn't/wasn't exactly a hub of any sort (except that it's on the Fossdyke Canal), and even though Saxilby and Marnham are only 10 miles apart I just can't think why Thomas (and Ann, possibly) would up-sticks and move there when his family was established in Nottinghamshire.

Does anyone have any ideas? And are there any records which might help me? ???
Title: Re: Why would a young man move about in the C18?
Post by: KGarrad on Tuesday 17 July 12 20:42 BST (UK)
Better question is why wouldn't he move?

10 miles is no great distance, and can be walked in 2 to 3 hours; quicker by horse.
What was his occupation?
That might give a clue.
Title: Re: Why would a young man move about in the C18?
Post by: jim1 on Tuesday 17 July 12 20:43 BST (UK)
Do you know he moved there or just married there.
It was tradition to marry in the bride's Parish.
Most people's movement was work related & 10 miles is no distance really.
jim
Title: Re: Why would a young man move about in the C18?
Post by: JenB on Tuesday 17 July 12 20:50 BST (UK)
What evidence, apart from the marriage, do you have that he had 'moved' to Saxilby?

As Kevin and Jim have said, 10 miles or so is no distance at all. People were far more mobile even then than we give them credit for.
Title: Re: Why would a young man move about in the C18?
Post by: sallyyorks on Tuesday 17 July 12 21:30 BST (UK)
Have you looked into wether there were any Churches in the Tuxford and Saxilby area at that time ? In rural areas  sometimes there just wernt any Churches . For example .  I have ancestors from the Haworth/ Keighley and Wadsworth Moor areas of Yorkshire . But because there wasnt a Church until later (early 1800s)  people had to walk some distances. To keighley ,Haworth, Heptonstall and even Colne (in Lancashire) . I have a marriage in Bradford and they are of " Haw" (Haworth) but they were probably  from the  Haworth Moor/Wadsworth Moor area like other family and not the actual village of Haworth  . Living on the moors they might just have easily have chosen Halifax !  Does it say where they are "of" in the register ?  . This can be hard to read or easy to miss sometimes in all  the scribbly writing.   
Title: Re: Why would a young man move about in the C18?
Post by: toastbutler on Tuesday 17 July 12 21:31 BST (UK)
Hello Leah-WW

Walking from Tuxford to Thaxilby is about 12 miles which would take about 4 hours.
That is just down the road in those days I would think.

When was he born and when did they marry?  :)
Title: Re: Why would a young man move about in the C18?
Post by: stanmapstone on Tuesday 17 July 12 22:57 BST (UK)
Have you looked into whether there were any Churches in the Tuxford and Saxilby area at that time

Tuxford was a parish and the parish church  was St. Nicholas, the registers date from 1624. Saxilby was a parish and the parish church was St. Botolph, the registers date from 1563.

Stan
Title: Re: Why would a young man move about in the C18?
Post by: Alexander. on Tuesday 17 July 12 23:09 BST (UK)
If you are relying on parish registers to work out where people 'moved', keep in mind that parish records are only snapshots of people's lives. Lots of things happened between the events in the parish registers, they just didn't make it onto paper. For that reason it's difficult to say why they were married in Saxilby if neither were from there - though I'm sure they had a good reason.

As others have said, 10 miles is nothing really. I mean, I walked 9 miles home today and it only took a couple of hours.

Alexander
Title: Re: Why would a young man move about in the C18?
Post by: KGarrad on Tuesday 17 July 12 23:16 BST (UK)
Walking from Tuxford to Thaxilby is about 12 miles which would take about 4 hours.

3 hours at the usual average walking pace of 4 miles per hour! ;D
Title: Re: Why would a young man move about in the C18?
Post by: stonechat on Wednesday 18 July 12 06:57 BST (UK)
From Thomas Hardy's novel Tess of the D'Urbervilles yiu get an idea of why many of the ag labs moved
Title: Re: Why would a young man move about in the C18?
Post by: Leah-WW on Wednesday 18 July 12 11:34 BST (UK)
Thanks for all the replies.

@jim1 and JenB:
Sorry I didn't make it clearer in the original post - Thomas and Ann did stay in Saxilby after their marriage. Their children were all born there, and my family has been in Lincolnshire ever since.

@toastbutler:
Thomas was born in 1745, Tuxford. He married Ann in April 1778, Saxilby. Their first child (Thomas Jr) was baptised at Saxilby in March 1779, followed by John (1780), Ann (1783), James (1785) and Elizabeth (1788) that I know of.
Thomas also had a brother I believe - Francis - who was baptised in Marnham in August 1759 and also went to Saxilby in May 1788 to marry Elizabeth South. Their first child (also Thomas) was baptised at Saxilby in March 1789, but their other children were born in Marnham.

@KGarrad:
I don't know what his occupation was, actually. I don't think any of the records I have seen to date have mentioned it. I wonder how I might be able to find out?
Edit: actually, I've just remembered that the record of Thomas' burial (May 1817) on FreeReg lists him as having been a Farmer.

@Sallyyorks:
There was no mention in the register of either of them being "of..." at the time of their marriage, which is one of the reasons why I've assumed that they lived there, rather than just popping over the Trent to get married.

@stonechat:
I'm not sure I've got time to read "Tess of the D'urbevilles" when I've got all this family history research to do ;)
Title: Re: Why would a young man move about in the C18?
Post by: jim1 on Wednesday 18 July 12 12:01 BST (UK)
If he was a farmer he would have been a tenant of the Manor.If he had farming inclinations he would have had to find a vacant tenancy that he could afford.