Genealogy Chat

I have found on the IGI, a baptism of Abraham Whitehouse, son of Abraham and Alice in 1707. Looking for a marriage of the parents (not having very common names) I found a possible marriage in Staffordshire. Having done a google, it looks to be 50 miles - would this be too far for them to travel in around 1700? I know that I will have to check the marriages for an Abraham in the actual parish records, but just wondered if anyone else had experience of moving rellies. thanks, tom.

I've had Sussex rellies go up to London to marry. No idea why they did. Rose

one of my Herefordshire relatives married a girl from Devon in London! That was in 1816 I am still wondering why? how? netti

Well, some folks did marry away from their own parishes if they wanted to get away from disapproving families. Are we actually talking migration here? I've got families travellling about all over the place. I think it depends what sort of work they were looking for. My copyholder farmers obviously stayed in the same place for generations, but I've several others travelling to the next county - or further afield - even during the 1700's. I have one particular family moving to the Black Country from rural Derbyshire - metal working industries were growing rapidly & attracting migrants, even in the 18th century. You say you found a marriage - is there any evidence they settled there for a while (baptisms etc in the next few years)? I think it would be unusual to marry so far away from your own parish & then return to it.

Some of the girls in my families 'worked in service' miles away from home Tom. I think that is how they met husbands from other counties. Then the boyfriend had to travel to where she lived to get married........but don't ask me how....horseback??? Jean

Thanks all for your thoughts - I am thinking that they married in Staffordshire and then moved to Worcetsershire, but I will need to look at the original records and see if that gives me some clues as to his profession.

Tom I wonder if any settlement certificates would survive for the area? May be worth emailing the local records office to see?

That's a really good idea nell, have just been having a bit of a look on google - nothing jumps out but I think I will e-mail the CRO tomorrow.

Then, as now, people travelled to find work. Then, as now, they would travel as far as they needed to. Some reasons they would go a longish way - in my/husband's tree from Norfolk to Yorkshire to work in coal mines (on land owned by Norfolk landowner) from Essex to Sussex (as servant in a household) from Gloucestershire to South Wales (lots of people, to work in coal mines). In the 1870s there was an agricultural depression which caused many ag labs to find industrial work elsewhere. You could see what was going on in your time period by looking at a history book for the period. nell

I'd also query your thinking that it must be them because of the name rarity. I have an Abraham Mealing in my ancestor's home town, but the Abraham Mealing in my tree came from about 10 miles away. Alice was quite a popular name too. Remember not all parish records are on the IGI. nell

Wow, did Tom confuse me with Nell??? That must be a compliment! Woo hoo. BTW Tom, they travelled much much more than we tend to think. Im pretty sure at some point my Norfolk Horsteads are going to show a connection with the little batch of them in Northampton - a good 100miles. This movment must have been at least before the start of the 18th century and I am pretty sure it will at some point tie in with the shoe industries in both big centres. We get the impression from the books we read etc that they stuck to their home village getting a few miles to market at the most. Its almost ridiculous to think that really - in the diary of our local Lord of the Manor an entry in the early 19th century he talks about going to an 'agricultural show' in Ipswich - what 50 miles from here and taking 'Horstead' (one of my farm bailiff ancestors) with him. Im sure it was pretty common to go up and down the country for many people and even more so once the railways arrived.

I was about to comment on how unusual the name was... till I looked at familysearch. Tipton Staffordshire appears to be the Abraham Whitehouse capital. There's one born every minute! (Well every ten years, even discounting all the submitted entries.) Dudley has a much earlier Abraham, son of Enoch. Off now, to see if Enoch is a Staffordshire name!

I was just abot to say, but Phoenix beat me to it - I dont consider Abraham Whitehouse to be an uncommon name - I have Whitehouse in my tree and there are thousands of them, all over the world! OC

Yes, it is! I'd be looking at land records, wills etc. Landowners may have manors in more than one county and their tenants move between manors. It looks as if other people have been researching the name, so it would be worth tracing them up. They may hold far more details than are on the IGI. Of course, it needs to be checked, but if they are coming to the same conclusions as you, they should have their reasons.

Looking at the batches, it appears that marriages in St Thomas Dudley have lots of Whitehouses, but only go up to 1691. Abraham, Enoch, Jonas and Jeffery are all names that occur in both Staffordshire and Worcestershire. I suspect that there are a lot of families, all giving their children the same names, but you would first need to find Dudley marriages post 1691.

For anyone with Whitehouse ancestors there is an excellent website, set up by a gentleman doing a one name study of the name. The web address is http://homepages.tesco.net/~keith.percy/ The following is a quote from his latest newsletter: 'I have been telling correspondents for some years that in the Dudley, Tipton and West Bromwich areas it (the surname Whitehouse) has the same frequency as does Williams in the whole of England & Wales, Williams being the 3rd commonest surname. In the Cheslyn Hay and Great Wyrley areas, it is on a par with Smith and Jones.' So I am afraid that it is not quite such an unusual name as you hoped, Tom. Tina (also with Whitehouse ancestors)

Abraham, Enoch, Jonas are all biblical names - so there'll be anywhere where there was a trend for such names. You may also get other apparently flamboyant names: Zechariah, Zachariah, Kish, Abel (even some Cains!), Seth and so on Christine

And on the London marriages... I believe there was one parish in the City which was well-known for not enquiring too deeply into the technicalities - a good place to go if you were under-age, or not entirely free of a previous marriage, perhaps! Christine