Hello, would anyone know of any industry that may have started up in Gillingham around 1780'90s? I noticed that in the records it seems that family members, Gillet,Gillot, Gillett surname, may have come to Gillingham around that time frame. Than k you, Bess _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus&pgmarket=en-ca&RU=http%3a%2f%2fjoin.msn.com%2f%3fpage%3dmisc%2fspecialoffers%26pgmarket%3den-ca

At 21:19 04/11/2003 +0000, you wrote: >Hello, would anyone know of any industry that may have started up in >Gillingham around 1780'90s? I noticed that in the records it seems that >family members, Gillet,Gillot, Gillett surname, may have come to >Gillingham around that time frame. Than k you, Bess > >_________________________________________________________________ Gillingham was a centre for glove making but I think this might have been a lot later than the 1780s. In the 1770s Gillingham was a very agricultural area - hemp, fruit, veg, dairy products, corn, seeds etc but bad harvests in the early 1780s caused problems - not just in Gillingham but in the country as a whole. Jo Draper in "Dorset, The Complete Guide" said that industry did not come to this part of Dorset until the coming of the railway in the 1850s. Up until them Gillingham was just a very small country town. Was it Gillingham town they lived in or just the area? I ask because some of my lot arrived in the area to work on the Stourhead Estate at Stourton, Wiltshire around this time - but this is a little bit north of Gillingham and my families lived in the Silton/Bourton/Kilmington area. Dovecote Press publish a little book called "The Industrial Past" by Peter Stainer in their "Discover Dorset" series. I do not have this particular title myself, but you could possibly order it through inter-library loan. There is a good little Museum in Gillingham - I should have the address somewhere; I will try and find it unless someone else on the list is able to supply it sooner. They may be able to help you - but include return postage (in the form on International Reply coupons if you don't live in the UK) Happy Hunting Helen Helen Jones, Weymouth, Dorset helen@melcombe.freeserve.co.uk http://www.melcombe.freeserve.co.uk