Petra Mitchinson writes: <snip> >Hi Mike, > >Regarding Ruth's occupation: Could it have been "Ind." meaning >"of independent means"? It looks as if she was a widow, and her >husband may have provided her with a regular income in his will. <snip> > >> Hi Sue! >> >> I looked for your Fletchers in the 1841 census in Little >>Clifton (in the parish of Workington) and found the >>following: <snip> >> Some of the writing wasn't quite clear to me. 'Ruth' might >>possibly have been Beth or Sarah. Under her occupation >>was something that looked like 'Gend' or 'Bend' - anyone >>else any ideas what this could be? Ah, good thought. With exactly the same ultimate meaning, I wonder now whether this could have been 'Bond' (well, I am at this moment watching 007 on TV) - meaning 'bond holder', a holder of Government Bonds. Soon-to-be-deceased husbands often left their widows a fixed income in this form. Chris chris@dickinson.uk.net