Genealogy Chat

I've been tracing the whereabouts of my great great grandfather through census returns and historical directories. He was a farmer's son born in 1828 in Rotherfield Sussex. His father died in 1857 and the 1861 census shows him head of the household at the farm with his family and widowed mother. Since then I have found him at 6 different farms up until 1905, described as the farmer, in different villages all around the Sussex Weald! I realise that he couldn't have owned the farms, but even if was just the tenant I'm surprised that he moved around so much. Has anyone else found this with their farmer ancestors or does anyone know if this was common in those days??

I haven't experienced this. Maybe he moved every time the rent went up? Or perhaps there were specific things going on in the area?

Hi Rachel I have found with my farming lot they moved about 5 times within farms and then finally a house in the village to retire. From what I understand they rent from April to April so it could be when the rents changed or as one farm fell vacant they moved on to a 'better' farm or of more acreage. Hope this helps a bit. Snowdrops

Not casing aspersions on your chap - as I dont know the full details - but sometimes people used the word 'farmer' pretty loosely and it may be they were agricultural labourers who went where they were hired. If he was indeed a farmer he may well have left a Will or there may be copies of his tenancy agreements in the local records archives?

Thats a good point about the rent Helen. A found him in 1871 living at a farm where a railway line was built across it's land in 1880. The line had been planned since 1873, so I think that he must have moved because of it, as I found him living at a farm nearby in a 1878 directory

Agree with Snowdrop - tenant farmers were usually on an annual lease by this time, which either party could terminate. Did the farms increase in size each time he moved? Sometimes the soil was poor and it was hard to scratch a living, or the market price of crops or wool fell drastically. Jay

Thank you for your replies Snowdrops and Heather. Yes I think that looking up the tenancy agreements will be my next step. I was searching under his name on the A2A website earlier, didn't find a Tenancy Agreement, but did find a postcard from a family collection of possibly him or his son (who shared the same name). I'm planning on visiting the record office in Lewes again in October, so that's another thing to add to the list!

Good luck. I did find a tenancy agreement for one of mine in the local village archives (not the records office!). Its quite interesting as this chap actually leased the land after my other ancestor had left it.

Janet - The farm where he was brought up was 36 acres. The farm he was at in 1871 was 60 acres and in 1881 61 acres, so obviously much larger farms. Unfortunately later census returns just describe him as just 'farmer'. So it could well be he moved because he wanted a larger farm. I wasn't aware how farm tenancies worked, so thats interesting how they were renewed every year, which makes it more feasible that he moved around so much, and probably was really common in those days. Thank you for your replies everyone. Rachelxx

Yes mine move around almost every census. They don't stray very far , across the road or next village. Kim