Hi Alan One mans Ag Lab is anothers Farmer Much depended on who gave the information and who recorded it You could be an Ag Lab and then rent an acre of land and be a tenant farmer (in some peoples eyes) You need to try and find other information to back up the data you have so far Did you find your man on the 1841 ? (I am guessing not, did he die?) Any children to check their baptisms Did he leave a will ? You say he was a labourer on the marriage? have you seen the original entry in the PRs Farmers are more often than not mentioned in Directories for the place they were living, have you tried any The less likely event is a poor hard up Ag Lab marrying a land owners daughter, it did happen of course but rare, I would suggest most wealthy fathers would disinherit to stop movement of assets out of their desired circle rather than see their hard gained land go to someone they did not think worthy of it He may of course have inherited My g.g.grandfather was an Ag Lab in 1851, a labourer on his marriage registration in 1857, a cowman in 1861, a farm steward in 1871, a Land steward & agent, Farmer in 1881, a farmer in 1891 and farm Bailiff in 1901 When he passed away my g.g.grandfather left land and several houses, so accumulated some wealth in the process, this did take some years though Sadly they did not filter through to me though :-( Nivard Ovington in Cornwall (UK) > My gggf Thomas Young is shown as a labourer in Horley in 1833 when he married and by 1835 he is a > tenant farmer. Similarly a possible relation James Young, is shown as an Ag Lab in Charlwood in > 1841 and a farmer, presumably tenant, in 1851. > > I would have thought it unlikely to make the transition from Ag Lab to tenant farmer without some > cash for a deposit, equipment (horse, cart etc). I also think it unlikely an Ag Lab could save > sufficient for this. If so, this would suggest some financial event occurred for them both eg > marrying into some money, inheriting some or whatever. Am I right or was it much easier to make > this transition than I think? > > Alan