Genealogy Chat

My ancestor's "possible" grandfather (need proof of the connection) was a "corn factor". My ancestor's wife's father was a "corn dealer". (Also, her gr-grandfather had corn, cattle and something else--can't read the words.)..........One family lived in Essex; the other in Sussex then Surrey........Is it a coincidence that they both dealt in corn -- were there quite a few people running around England in the 1800's who were corn factors/dealers? Or, perhaps the families met because of the corn occupations? Thank you in advance, if anyone has any knowledge of how common these occupations were.

If i remember my history at school on arable crops, i would think that these people were corn merchants ,buying it in bulk, storing it and waiting to sell it on to make a tidy profit. The area,s you mentioned ,plus quite a few more were areas with lots of farms,which would be the centre for commerce.Your ancesters sound as though they were also dealing in other fields [pardon the pun] very enterprising of them ,livestock as well.denistfn Newcastle.

Hi Denis: It's hard researching from California. My family is from Ontario, Canada and my ancestors were from England and Ireland. Thank you very much for your information; it is quite interesting and informative. Luckily, the gr-grandfather wasn't a greedy man -- have heard that he donated a bell to the church. Thank you for your information; I really appreciate it, even with the pun. :~)

Lisa Now I am going to give my age away. In the 1950's I remember shops which had corn merchant after the name of the proprietor. Also large towns had a corn exchange where I believe they bought and sold corn like a type of stock market but dealing in corn they would have a board with the latest price. Hope this helps. not much though I expect. Try typing in google corn merchants or corn exchanges that might give you information Good hunting Pat

Don,t know why i never thought of that Pat,because there was one in High wycombe for many years .I can remember going in once a week to buy the dog biscuits, they sold all sorts of stuff ,including the corn.Used to look forward to the different smells as you walked in the door,herbs and spices from the drawers grains from the sacks,and the smell of coffee and tea.ect,a sort of old weigh your own.denis

Hi Pat and Denis: Thank you for helping. I found out a bit about the occupations last year from a google search (had never heard of a corn factor before), but I only checked one source and didn't think to check for other meanings of the word. Perhaps if I check rootsweb, I might be able to see how common the occupations were. Thank you both very much for your input! Denis, I can almost picture myself walking into such a place, and seeing and smelling everything! Pat, perhaps my "possible" grandfather was really related -- and that's how the families from different counties in England met -- through corn exchanges. Worth keeping in mind, anyway. Thanks so much for your help, Denis and Pat! PS In California at least, we've been to restored buildings that once were once "General Stores", typically from the gold rush era. They too had barrels of food items, material to make clothes, jars of candy, tools, canned goods, etc. I remember smelling licorice and wood. (There's a bit of history from California.)

best of luck in your research Lisa.Any probs and log in to G C ,they are a great bunch and will help in any way they can.Try the other boards on the site too,great fun.Denis.

Hi Lisa. Some of my ancestors (surname Gomm) were corn dealers in the Birmingham area. The family had previously farmed in Oxfordshire. Peter Elliott

Hi Peter: Perhaps having something to do with corn wasn't that uncommon after all. Thanks for letting me know. :~)