Genealogy Chat

Does anyone know if it was common for our ancestors to move such long distances? I have one who was born in Suffolk in 1868, married in Durham in 1889 and had children born in Durham. Ive not come across it before, all the rest of my family seem to stay fairly local to there birth place. Have I gone wrong somewhere or is it quite possible that they moved all that way!? And does anyone have any ideas as to why they would of moved!?

Yes, I have found the "stayed in their village all their lives" theory a total fallacy. They did move for jobs, my 17 year old farm boy GGFx2 went on his own from Norfolk to Stepney in 1835. That must have been scarey. Even people in the countryside were starving in those days, some were emigrating all the way to the States or Aus, so a move within their own country would be very common as long as a job or better life was at the end of it. What job did your ancestor do that may have been a reason to move?

What was his job once he settled in Durham? I came across a village in in Norfolk where about half the young people, male and female moved to the coalfields of Derbyshire and beyond in the 1870s. As Heather said, when there was little work and poor wages in the countryside people were ready to move. Judith

My Great Grandfather was born in a small village in Lincolnshire but married in 1876 in Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire, his reason for the move was that he worked as a groom for Earl Brownlow who had homes in Lincolnshire, Hertfordshire and a town house in London. My husband has a group in his family who were born in Warwickshire, but with the decline of the ribbon weaving industry set off for West Yorkshire around 1860 and settled there. Another of his great great grandparents went from Norfolk to West Yorkshire - not so easy to see why in this case, but we are working on it. The railways were another big influence, we have families from Northamptonshire who are scattered throughout as far as Yorkshire once they moved from the land to the "Iron way" So, yes, your family may well have moved from Suffolk to Durham. Regards, Yvonne

In the 1860s and 1870s huge chunks of the population were moving away from the countryside. There were always links between ports in the North East and ports all the way down the east coast. Exactly how the news of jobs travelled I don't know: whether it was word of mouth or whether there were specific recruitment campaigns, but you can find whole villages transposed into the Durham mining areas. It wasn't only the young people who went, either. There are some books published consisting simply of east anglian folk found in censuses for Jarrow etc. Brenda

I'd always assumed that my ancestors came from Manchester and had been here all their lives. But no! They started in Derbyshire, moved to London and came to Manchester via Leicester, all in the space of about 30 years.

My Rels from Norfolk married in Sunderland in 1871

Many of my relies stayed within about 10 miles of their birthplace, but there was a significant move in the last half of the 19th century - the railways meant people could travel much further, and the industrial revolution meant job opportunities in cities. nell

Thanks to everone for their input, I was begginning to think I'd gone wrong somewhere along the branch!

My great grandfather was born in London but married in Durham. I assume that he moved up there because of his work. A lot of people moved into the Durham area from all over the place in the mid-1800s because the coalfields were opening up and housing was being built for the workers. My rellies there had moved from London, Yorkshire and Westmorland.

Many of my rellies were from the south of England and the Midlands and came to Sheffield where we are now for the Steel works. Its making it abit of a nightmare to trace them all back as not sure where they were on which census. Regards, Claire

Hi, my Great Grandparents were from Suffolk - Ubberstone and Cratfield, and moved to, and got married in, Durham (Crook & Billy Row) Name - Allen maiden name - Tacon best wishes Ri x