Hello Art If you have not already found it, may I suggest that you try and obtain 'Fisher Row: Fishermen, Bargemen, and Canal Boatmen in Oxford, 1500-1900, (Clarenden Press, Oxford, 1982). It is probably out of print but you should be able to obtain it through the Library Service. I do not have a copy of the book but recall that there are copious details about families living in Fisher Row. Narrow boats on the Oxford Canal tended to make short journeys and had little living accommodation. Therefore the wives and families stayed on land. You are right about the lack of canal development in the 1600. The first modern canalization was the eight mile long Sankey Brook Navigation (St Helen's Canal) cut in Lancashire in 1759. I can recommend other books but understand that a book list will be appearing shortly on this list so I won't mention any more now. Best wishes for your research. Gill Foster ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, January 27, 2000 9:34 PM Subject: [CANAL-PEOPLE] Canal boats and river barges plying to and from Oxford > Hello listers, > I am interested in canal and river folk working from Oxford, particularly > those by the name of TAWNEY. Individuals I have listed are brothers William > bc1605 and Nicholas bc1610, both boatmen and/or boatmasters (presumably a > boatmaster owned his canal boat?). Nicholas had three sons, Nicholas bc1635, > Edward bc1640 d1690 and William bc1650 d1686, all boatmen/boatmasters. > Edward had four sons, Henry bc1669 d1717 river bargemaster of "Sovereign", > Edward bc1671 d1744 river bargemaster, Robert b1679 d1745 river bargemaster > of "Kings Arms" and Richard b1684 d 1756 river bargemaster. > Robert had a son Thomas bc1717 d1763 river bargemaster. He also had a great > grandson Richard b1774 d1832, a civil engineer engaged on the construction > and running of the Oxford Canal. > It would seem that canal development in the 1600s would have been limited and > therefore trade restricted to the Oxford area? > River trade was presumably on the Thames to and from London? > Any information and references to records and publications covering the > period would be much appreciated. > With best wishes, Tony. > ([email protected]) > Bedfordshire, England. > > > ============================== > Search ALL of RootsWeb's mailing lists in real time. > RootsWeb's Personalized Mailing Lists: > http://pml.rootsweb.com/ > >