Dear Father Stuart Have you read the original PR films or just relied on the Directories and net etc? I have often found when reading the whole Parish films that the families who were prominent in Weddings and particularly Bapts (more of those to a family than a wedding!) fade out of the PRs as they pass from child-bearing years, so there can be perhaps a gap of several years when the name doesn't show until the next generation starts the cycle again. The other main point is that the move from one place to another with more work opportunities shows up through this disappearance from the Registers as the younger generations moved to the bigger towns and had their families there, occasionally a family may go back to have a first/another child Christened but often not. The older generation may have stayed and eventually died in the original village or township but the younger families will have had to move for better work opportunities. This movement away from Wigan to Burnley in the 1850s is very plain in my families, and they did not appear in Directories because they were too poor, working in cotton mills etc. Another point is that the women/daughters tend to disappear if they marry a man from another area or Parish as they then move to where he lives and works, and of course, have a name -change too, so although still part of their own family by blood and family ties, the children are no longer of that name, therefore harder to track. Even if they stay in the same Parish they can be overlooked unless you know of the marriage event. From my own experience, I suggest you look at surrounding bigger towns, to see if your Finch families seem to tie in at Census time, with this pattern. Burnley was a big draw for work, and wherever the cotton industry was strong. Good luck with your search. Beth " I hear that "Finch" is a popular name in the Wigan area but I never read about the family and the directory entries seem to indicate little "Finch" activity. Can anyone give me an idea why a name that seems very much from Wigan is so hard to see on either the net or other entries? Father Stuart "

Dear Beth, Many thanks for this information. Strangely enough, William Finch's own son (Richard) ended up in Burnley after the First World War where he owned some houses which were rented (How did the son of a miner obtain enough money to be a small landlord?). Some useful thoughts here for future research. I've relied on the net and certificates etc more recently although I did once speak to an older family member and collected information before her death in the late 1970's. The family did travel a bit from the early 20th Century onwards but I suspect that prior to that they were in the Wigan area. This is the hypothesis to be tested ? Father Stuart -----Original Message----- From: eng-lan-wigan-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:eng-lan-wigan-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Beth Merryweather Sent: 14 May 2007 21:00 To: eng-lan-wigan@rootsweb.com Subject: [WIGAN] Re FINCH in Wigan Dear Father Stuart Have you read the original PR films or just relied on the Directories and net etc? I have often found when reading the whole Parish films that the families who were prominent in Weddings and particularly Bapts (more of those to a family than a wedding!) fade out of the PRs as they pass from child-bearing years, so there can be perhaps a gap of several years when the name doesn't show until the next generation starts the cycle again. The other main point is that the move from one place to another with more work opportunities shows up through this disappearance from the Registers as the younger generations moved to the bigger towns and had their families there, occasionally a family may go back to have a first/another child Christened but often not. The older generation may have stayed and eventually died in the original village or township but the younger families will have had to move for better work opportunities. This movement away from Wigan to Burnley in the 1850s is very plain in my families, and they did not appear in Directories because they were too poor, working in cotton mills etc. Another point is that the women/daughters tend to disappear if they marry a man from another area or Parish as they then move to where he lives and works, and of course, have a name -change too, so although still part of their own family by blood and family ties, the children are no longer of that name, therefore harder to track. Even if they stay in the same Parish they can be overlooked unless you know of the marriage event. From my own experience, I suggest you look at surrounding bigger towns, to see if your Finch families seem to tie in at Census time, with this pattern. Burnley was a big draw for work, and wherever the cotton industry was strong. Good luck with your search. Beth " I hear that "Finch" is a popular name in the Wigan area but I never read about the family and the directory entries seem to indicate little "Finch" activity. Can anyone give me an idea why a name that seems very much from Wigan is so hard to see on either the net or other entries? Father Stuart " * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ~~~ Check your e-mail settings. List mail must be in PLAIN TEXT. ~~~ * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ENG-LAN-WIGAN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message