Sitting here in Messingham I have enjoyed following all the suggested county and town names mentioned as possible places of origin of members of the Mason family (and other families). On the face of it, some of the out of County places have sounded unlikely, but experience tells me that they have all been possibles. Messingham sits on a limestone ridge which runs from the middle of Lincoln where the Cathedral stands, north to dip down at Winteringam and the banks of the River Humber. Messingham residents in the older part of the village look down into the valley of the River Trent - a couple of miles away, but Messingham had a thriving landing there in the 1700s and 1800s. Rivers and canals were the main highways then for moving goods around - only losing out when the railways got going in the mid 1850s. So, go from Messingham landing south, and you reach Gainsborough, and the River Trent continues to take you to Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Burton on Trent, Leicestershire, etc.. Go from Keadby by canal to Doncaster, Sheffield or Barnsley. Go north from the landing out into the River Humber to go up major river systems into Yorkshire, or out of the Humber into the North Sea round to Boston and Norfolk. Then get back to Lincoln up the River Witham and the Torksey Canal back to the Trent and home to Messingham. My Main Messingham maternal family made trips around these waterways constantly. I have found marriages in Norfolk, Sheffield, Derbyshire, Bradford, Beverley, Hull, North ferriby, Newcastle etc.. I started this game many years ago, thinking my Messingham people would have been in the village for ever. I could not have been more wrong. Years ago I emailed the List about waterway routes around North Lincolnshire. Those routes will still be there in List archives. I have two small sketch maps on file - one covers Lincolnshire waterways and shipping routes, the other covers ways from Lincolnshire (on waterways) into other county areas. These are relatively small files - one over 200 kb, one over 300 kb. If anyone wants a copy of one or the other or both, email me direct, and I can post them as email attachments. Good Hunting, Rex

Hi Rex hope your well, been reading your email interesting as my fathers side came from your area may i have a copy of the files kindest regards june terrington was Wilson On 27 January 2016 at 14:58, Rex via <eng-lincsgen@rootsweb.com> wrote: > Sitting here in Messingham I have enjoyed following all the suggested > county and town names mentioned as possible places of origin of members > of the Mason family (and other families). > On the face of it, some of the out of County places have sounded > unlikely, but experience tells me that they have all been possibles. > Messingham sits on a limestone ridge which runs from the middle of > Lincoln where the Cathedral stands, north to dip down at Winteringam and > the banks of the River Humber. Messingham residents in the older part of > the village look down into the valley of the River Trent - a couple of > miles away, but Messingham had a thriving landing there in the 1700s and > 1800s. Rivers and canals were the main highways then for moving goods > around - only losing out when the railways got going in the mid 1850s. > So, go from Messingham landing south, and you reach Gainsborough, and > the River Trent continues to take you to Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, > Burton on Trent, Leicestershire, etc.. > Go from Keadby by canal to Doncaster, Sheffield or Barnsley. Go north > from the landing out into the River Humber to go up major river systems > into Yorkshire, or out of the Humber into the North Sea round to Boston > and Norfolk. Then get back to Lincoln up the River Witham and the > Torksey Canal back to the Trent and home to Messingham. > My Main Messingham maternal family made trips around these waterways > constantly. I have found marriages in Norfolk, Sheffield, Derbyshire, > Bradford, Beverley, Hull, North ferriby, Newcastle etc.. > I started this game many years ago, thinking my Messingham people would > have been in the village for ever. I could not have been more wrong. > Years ago I emailed the List about waterway routes around North > Lincolnshire. Those routes will still be there in List archives. I have > two small sketch maps on file - one covers Lincolnshire waterways and > shipping routes, the other covers ways from Lincolnshire (on waterways) > into other county areas. These are relatively small files - one over 200 > kb, one over 300 kb. If anyone wants a copy of one or the other or both, > email me direct, and I can post them as email attachments. > Good Hunting, Rex > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ENG-LINCSGEN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >