Overseers accounts. Quite handy.

[coombs]

For people with Essex ancestors, or Norfolk ancestors, the FamilySearch catalogue has scans of original surviving overseers accounts and vestry minutes. Some counties have records that are sealed and only available at an LDS centre etc.

My 4xgreat grandfather Matthew Bradford appears quite a lot in the Southchurch Essex overseers accounts from 1805 to 1813 then it tailed off a bit. He died aged 85 in 1849 so lived to a good age. He said "not born in county" in the 1841 census of Southchurch. He was an ag lab.

as far as I know no known settlement certs or examinations survive for Southchurch.

Matthew is mentioned as "relieved Matthew Bradford" quite a bit and they even paid for him to go to a doctor at Thundersley. His wife is also mentioned as having to see a doctor. They wed in 1798 in Southchurch and had 3 children, Matthew, Thomas and Isaac.

Such overseers records can be quite useful, and they also mention rates and rents of parishioners.

[Mowsehowse]

Yes, very illuminating.
The Devon records office has original ledgers that can be perused.

[maddys52]

Thanks coombs and Mowsehowse, good to know. I find the familysearch website so difficult to navigate these days, but sounds like it's worth persisting.

[coombs]

Good to know about the Devon ledgers as well.

I seem to attract the ancestors who moved around more, as opposed to the ones who stayed quite locally. While a large majority of people prior to the railway inventions stayed within a few miles of their birthplace, there was a good percentage of those who moved elsewhere for work. This can pose a reason for the difficulties and brickwalls, as it is finding documentation of the movement. You may get "not born in county" in 1841 but if they died by 1851 it can prove a challenge unless they had a less common name. Several Matthew Bradford's were born c1760-1770ish in South East Cambs, and Suffolk, which is where I think my Matthew came from.