Thank you Graham, I appreciate your comments, and will of course keep looking. My great great grandfather George Thornber was a Colliery labourer in 1863, perhaps they worked 'shift' work and he was down in the pits when they took the census. It would be interesting to find out if the census taker was waiting at the pit head for the miners to come up so he could do the census. Is it possible there was a census taken for each mine and this is listed by the mines name ? Kind regards Mike Toronto Canada ----- Original Message ----- From: "Graham Leigh" <kgleigh@hotmail.com> To: <ENG-LAN-LEIGH-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, May 12, 2003 3:51 PM Subject: [(ENG-LEIGH)] Re: [(ENG-LEIGH)] [(ENG-LEIGH)] Wigan History Shop Hi Mike , I have had first hand experience of the Wigan History Shop so tend to believe it if they say your ancestors were not there ON THE NIGHT of the census. Of course this does not mean they did not live where you believe they did, they may just have been away on that one night. The other evidence you have seems to suggest they did live in the area. Regards G ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Morris" <morrisind@rogers.com> To: <ENG-LAN-LEIGH-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, May 11, 2003 11:13 PM Subject: [(ENG-LEIGH)] [(ENG-LEIGH)] Wigan History Shop > > > Hi Graham, > I wanted to let you know that the Wigan library did look up the 1861 census > for me, but said they could not find anything.on the Thornber name. I find > this very strange. I have a George Thornber born there in 1860 and later his > sister Ellen Thornber was also born in Golborne in 1863. Her birth > certificate says in the sub district of Lowton. Her parents were Ann and > George Thornber. > > Its darn inconsiderate of my GGgrandparents to leave town on the year of the > census, then come back again. :)). > > Listers please keep your eyes open on the off chance you might see this > family tucked elsewhere on the 1861 or the 1871 census. Its possible they > might have had connections in Blackburn or Preston. Or maybe you might have > better luck than the library and find them still in Golborne.