I will check Pencombe to see if we have shoemaker wills. I do have a relative whose family were shoemakers for several generations in Poughill, Devon. In the later 1850s he an his family went to New Zealand for the gold mining around Queenstown and then moved on to the Gold Country of California where they were based in Nevada City. They did very well as miners always need new shoes and shoe repairs. A good trade to be in. Barbara Haner > 1. Shoemakers of Ewyas Harold (M Robinson)> > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------> > Message: 1> Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2008 21:34:48 +1000> From: "M Robinson" <bamp@webone.com.au>> Subject: [HEF] Shoemakers of Ewyas Harold> To: <eng-hereford@rootsweb.com>> Message-ID: <00a601c8ce12$a70931f0$2953fea9@user45st810jtn>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"> > In studying the wills of five shoemakers of Ewyas Harold who died between 1685 and 1810, I was rather surprised to see how well off they seemed to be. The inventories listed platters, plates, porringers and pewter tankards, tablecloths and table napkins, numerous cooking vessels, cupboards, and feather beds, as well as tools of trade, and for some a few farm animals.> > I was wondering if these shoemakers had wills because they were unusually well off, or whether shoemakers in those times enjoyed a relatively high status in a village. Has anyone else looked at shoemakers in 18th century?> > Maureen Robinson.> > ------------------------------> > To contact the ENG-HEREFORD list administrator, send an email to> ENG-HEREFORD-admin@rootsweb.com.> > To post a message to the ENG-HEREFORD mailing list, send an email to ENG-HEREFORD@rootsweb.com.> > __________________________________________________________> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ENG-HEREFORD-request@rootsweb.com> with the word "unsubscribe" without the quotes in the subject and the body of the> email with no additional text.> > > End of ENG-HEREFORD Digest, Vol 3, Issue 139> ********************************************