Genealogy Chat

it always astonishes me that even before cars etc, lots of families moved hundreds of miles! I'm presuming they went by steam train in the late 1880's? but for many people (mostly fairly poor people) would have had to save up for ages!

Yes, it is surprising what distances people travelled, even before the advent of the train. I guess they just packed up their very few possessions onto a cart, or even walked and carried them all! I have had people moving from Lincolnshire to Leicestershire, Oxfordshire to London, Westmorland to Durham and South Yorkshire to Durham. None of them were wealthy people, and they all were quite long distances.

I can't imagine what would induce a labourer to move from Worcestershire to Kent!

They may have travelled by sea. Certainly in the early 1800's people were travelling to holiday resorts by sea. Cargo would also have been transported by sea, I seem to remember that was how they got the Portland Stone to London to use in the buildings there They may also have used the rivers and canals Dee xx

I guess they just went where the work was available. I read somewhere that a lot of miners moved from other parts of the country up to the Durham coalfields in the mid 19th century because housing was being built for the workers and it was much better than they had elsewhere.

I too have wondered about ancestors who moved many miles away. I assumed they lsold any furniture they had and started fresh at the new place. Maybe buying second hand. I know my great grand parents used the local sale rooms in the early 1900's for furniture. People were satisfied with a lot less then than now. And were train fares less than today? I seem to recall that theer were 3 classes - first, second and third. Jane

I think most of my ancestors just rented rooms and probably furnished rooms at that, so wouldn't need to sell up before moving. A lot of them were servants and probably moved with employers so it didn't actually cost anything for them to move. I have quite a few agricultural workers who moved into towns to work on the railways and down mines. My husband has one ancestor who was a mariner for many years and then became a coal miner. I think that must have been a bit of a cultural shock to him after the open seas. Kath. x

Regarding trains, I read a book but have no idea the title or details, which said that at some point the railway companies introduced a special cheap rate which enabled people to use the trains to commute to work, and suburbs around London spread further and further out. If you look at maps of where your relatives went, often they just went up the nearest main road, presumably stopping when they found work. There was a great shift from landworking and living in villages to working in factories and living in towns at the mid/end of the 19th century. nell

Of course people did walk a lot further then. My Norfolk grandfather used to walk to Norwich from his village which is about 15 miles away, and back in a day to attend services at the cathedral. Of course, Norfolk is noted for being flat, so it wasn't like going uphill. I am often amazed at the children in our local school who think walking to the town centre from our school - a matter of metres - is a long way! nell

Before I started researching my lot I thought the only time they moved great distances was during the industrial revolution. How wrong can you be! I have one family husband born France (British subject) his Father born Scotland, wife born Preston Lancs her Mother born Anglesey. They married in Hackney, had a daughter the following year in Southampton then they moved to Greenwich and finally settled in Shoreditch. All the male professions are given as Iron Moulder so why didn't they just stay put? Answer: 'Cos that would have made it easier for me to find them!

I have several governesses in my family. My mother was a third generation teacher. They seemed to have followed the local aristocratic families round. I know my grandmother born 1882 trained as a pupil teacher in Somerset then found work in a school in Poole Dorset when she qualified. She travelled by train with a large trunk. She then moved to Wheathamstead in Hertfodshire to teach in the village school again travelling by train before finally settling back in Bristol in about 1920. In contrast I live about half a mile from where she settled. I have looked up several relatives who were employed in these grand houses and have been suprised at the variety of birth places offered by the servants on the census.