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General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: zetlander on Wednesday 02 September 20 18:58 BST (UK)
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Looking at my family tree all members seem to have found partners within a fifty mile radius of their home.
Just been reading about the Bronte family of Haworth. Maria Branwell mother of the literary family was born (1783) and raised in Penzance yet met her husband Patrick Bronte in Yorkshire - a distance of 400 miles. (They were married in 1812.)
What's the longest distance between birth places of couples in your family tree - not including marriages abroad?
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I'm not sure but I think the longest is one person who was born in Norfolk and the other who was born in Dumfries, Scotland. They appear to have met in roughly the middle as they got married in Durham.
So not that far I suppose really.
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It's long way to anywhere from Penzance. Patrick Bronte was from County Down in Ireland so he'd come a fair way.
Mine's either the one from somewhere in Scotland who married a Lancashire lass or one from Ireland who married a lass born in Lancashire of County Dublin parents, 170-180 miles + sea crossing. Most of the others didn't look beyond the next parish. I have 1 "Southerner", born in Cheshire c.1800 who settled in Wigan, Lancashire. There should be Welsh ancestors there.
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I am not sure if this one counts. Conceivably he could have got the train?? I cannot find a date for first ones into London from the north. But James travelled from Perth, Scotland before 1841 and married a Londoner in 1843. ( 8 children & 14 years later they came to NZ)
But another lot
(This is all before 1785) she born Staffordshire. He born Warminster.
Married in London 1767, Back to Staffordshire to have first child baptised. Back to London
Then finally to Warminster. Thank goodness for Wills otherwise I would never have believed it. And also as a result of the Will it is obvious they kept in touch with wife’s sister who had also married London. The rest of that family I think stayed in Staffs.
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An uncle of mine was born and lived all his life in Madras. At the outbreak of WWII he joins up and spends the war in the far east. End of war is transferred to Bombay to await demob. Orders come through to board troopship. Next port of call Southhampton. From there by train to Birmingham. De-trained and de-mobbed - on the platform.
Wants a cup of tea so goes to the WVS kiosk. Given a cup of tea by a very pretty girl. They are married 28 days later and 9 months after that my cousin arrives.
She had never left Birmingham and it was her first week volunteering.
Regards
Chas
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Hi there. I heard that Patrick Bronte was born in Ireland as Maiden Stone says, but, his name was Brunty. He changed his name to Bronte.
Maggsie
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What an interesting thought!
I had a look - firstly at Dad's side and his ancestors all married someone who lived in the next road / same village although in a few case the couples had migrated with their families (eg West Bromwich to central London and Wiltshire to the same bit of central London) earlier on.
Mum's ancestors have all lived in a very small area and in each case the bride and groom lived in the same village (some times for many generations).
Of all my direct "ancestors" the greatest distance between the homes of a man and his bride was 9 miles - my parents - they both caught the same train to commute to London - because they always stood on the same bit of their respective platforms they saw each other every day...!
Liz
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My great grandmother was born in a small village near Bristol in the 1850s, married a Welsh gentleman and moved with him to Liverpool. After he died, she married an Irish gentleman and end up with him in Yorkshire. I doubt she ever expected to end up so far away from her friends and family!
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One great grandfather was born in East Lothian, (southern Scotland) must have moved to London, and married a girl born in Edmonton, (London) in 1862. Shortly after that they went to New Zealand. The girl's mother was from Ireland, but married in London.
My husband's great uncle, born in Kent, married a woman from Sutherland, almost at the top of Scotland. They married in Derbyshire, so as someone else said, they met half way.
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This probably won’t count... :D...my parents: dad from Valleyfield, Quebec married my mother in Telscombe, Sussex during WW2, 3300 miles from home. He made quite a trip from his bp of Burnley, Lancs. to Canada and back to England as a Canadian soldier to find his bride!
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My ancestor John Wallaker was born in 1842 in remote Foulness in Essex. His future wife was born 100 miles away in Bletchingdon, Oxfordshire. They had met by 1865 and married in London in February 1866. All those years apart then they wed. Although further back I have found someone from Warrington who wed a Lincolnshire girl in my direct line.
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"His future wife was born 100 miles away"
One hundred miles!! He could have walked 100 miles in four days. Sorry, but that seems just laughable to an American. People walked to California, for goodness sake.
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"His future wife was born 100 miles away"
One hundred miles!! He could have walked 100 miles in four days. Sorry, but that seems just laughable to an American. People walked to California, for goodness sake.
Why have you got such an attitude?
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My x2 great grandfather had been born in North Wales, his wife had been born in Barnsley which is where they met and married.
On another side, an ancestor had been born in Barnsley and his wife had arrived from Askham in Westmorland.
I always wonder they purposefully set out for a place or just simply drifted their way there until they found somewhere to settle.
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My x3 great grandparents were both from Leiston in Suffolk and both went to Germany on the same boat in 1865. They married in Germany and had about a dozen children. About half of the children moved to Yorkshire in their 20s and my x3 great grandma followed a while later. All the men, including my x3 great granddad, married local women. How far is Germany from Yorkshire?
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Depends which bit of Germany. ;D
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"His future wife was born 100 miles away"
One hundred miles!! He could have walked 100 miles in four days. Sorry, but that seems just laughable to an American. People walked to California, for goodness sake.
Yes but isn’t the UK only about 300 miles at its widest point? Considering most American states are bigger than Britain as a whole, I don’t really see how that’s “laughable”? They were only answering the question ???
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My great grandfather, born in Illogan, Cornwall met and married my great grandmother from Bairnsdale, Victoria, Australia.
His older brother travelled to New Zealand and met a young lady coming off a later boat having travelled from Yorkshire to New Zealand.
Another set of great grandparents, she was from Kent, UK and he was from Canada. They met and married in South Australia.
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Depends which bit of Germany. ;D
Magdeburg.
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"His future wife was born 100 miles away"
One hundred miles!! He could have walked 100 miles in four days. Sorry, but that seems just laughable to an American. People walked to California, for goodness sake.
Yes but isn’t the UK only about 300 miles at its widest point? Considering most American states are bigger than Britain as a whole, I don’t really see how that’s “laughable”? They were only answering the question ???
The longest distance on mainland Britain is the famous Land's End to John O'Groats. Approximately 600 miles as the crow flies but the crow (or seagull) would have to fly over the sea for parts of the journey. Approximately 830 miles by road.
Land's End to the Shetland Isles is around 900 miles.
Zetlander's opening post ended "What is the longest distances between birthplaces of couples in your family tree not including marriages abroad?" I included an Irish ancestor in my reply since England didn't count as "abroad", it was just the biggest of the islands to the east. :)
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"His future wife was born 100 miles away"
One hundred miles!! He could have walked 100 miles in four days. Sorry, but that seems just laughable to an American. People walked to California, for goodness sake.
Yes but isn’t the UK only about 300 miles at its widest point? Considering most American states are bigger than Britain as a whole, I don’t really see how that’s “laughable”? They were only answering the question ???
Thank you. In England, in the 1840s being 100 miles apart is a huge distance going by the size the country is. No part of the UK is more than 74 miles from the coast. Also I think until about 1800ish, most big trips across the UK (say from Newcastle to London) were done by sea. My ancestor was a mayor of King's Lynn and had property and trade in London, he flitted between the two. He was a merchant so I think his journeys to and from London to Kings Lynn were done by sea.
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Within the UK, 425 the most I think. Born in Ayrshire, married a local girl in Slough. I also have a couple with distances of about 250miles. One born Rothiemurchus, married a local girl in Newcastle and another born Romsey married a local guy in Liverpool.
If we take those born abroad I also have a man born in India to British parents going on to marry a German girl in Argentina.
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"100 miles apart is a huge distance"
Okay, whatever. In about 1849, my gg-grandfather walked 40 miles from his homestead in Moundville down to Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, purchased a 50 lb sack of flour, and walked 40 miles back carrying the flour. In about 1853, my g-grandfather walked [and probably hitch hiked] the 500 miles from northeastern Ohio to central Wisconsin. The roads they traveled on were probably worse than the average road in England. So a foot loose youth going 100 miles in search of work or adventure doesn't seem that odd to me. People did walk in those days.
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I think we can agree that concepts of distance and climate can be formed by where we grew up. I remember English relatives being amazed by what we considered “not far away” - possibly a couple of hours drive.
I do remember reading a Scotland Yard detective series by Charles Todd, American son and mother author, but set in England, just after WW1 and how the characters managed to zip all over the country in an hour or two - doubt very much the roads, cars, or gasoline availability would have existed to make that possible.
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In 1924, my grandfather and his brother walked from Dudley, Staffordshire to Royston in Yorkshire - about 115 miles. Apparently lots of miners moved about this way in search of work after the First World War, both had served from 1914 and it was hardly the home for heroes they were promised :'(. He met and wed my grandmother there, thankfully.
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Thank you. In England, in the 1840s being 100 miles apart is a huge distance going by the size the country is. No part of the UK is more than 74 miles from the coast. Also I think until about 1800ish, most big trips across the UK (say from Newcastle to London) were done by sea. My ancestor was a mayor of King's Lynn and had property and trade in London, he flitted between the two. He was a merchant so I think his journeys to and from London to Kings Lynn were done by sea.
I would suggest your view of how journeys to London were made was clouded by your family living on the east coast near ports.
If they had lived further inland they would probably have travelled south by road rather then east to the coast then south. There were good stagecoach services during the 17th & 18th centuries and by the 19th century circa 1830 the railways were taking over from the stagecoach. In addition carriers plied their trade between most towns providing transport, albeit slow transport between towns.
Cheers
Guy
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From reading this I've just been reminded that my great granddad would walk from Beeston to Keighley to see my great grandma when they were dating. According to Google, that would take 6 hours.
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I have lots of ancestors moving distances of 100miles or more. Before anyone says anything, yes I am sure that I have not just latched on to someone of the same name. For each of them I have at least one document referencing their original location in their new location.
1840s Donaghmore to Blantyre 188miles
1850s Kirkcudbright to Bridgend, wales 377 miles
1840s Edinburgh to Merthyr Tidfil 391miles
1850s Boston, Lincs to Canterbury
1790s Ayrshire to London 414miles
1880s Forres to Glasgow 175miles
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I have lots of ancestors moving distances of 100miles or more. Before anyone says anything, yes I am sure that I have not just latched on to someone of the same name. For each of them I have at least one document referencing their original location in their new location.
1840s Donaghmore to Blantyre 188miles
1850s Kirkcudbright to Bridgend, wales 377 miles
1840s Edinburgh to Merthyr Tidfil 391miles
1850s Boston, Lincs to Canterbury
1790s Ayrshire to London 414miles
1880s Forres to Glasgow 175miles
I just take no notice of the "are you sure it is not just someone of the same name" replies. You have done the endless research and have lots of documents confirming things. If you published all your findings online it would take ages anyway.
My great grandad from Co Durham met and married a London woman.