Greetings to Janet et al, Janet - could you make any suggestions as to what "tracks" - paper or otherwise these country to city migrants may have left for us to discover? My 2x G.Grandfather went to London circa 1835 ,married and then returned to the Avening/Horsley area! Must have been homesick ;-). Many Thanks, bob Beale -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] Sent: Friday, October 31, 2008 11:12 AM To: [email protected] Cc: Subject: Re: [GLS] Rural Gloucestershire to the cities With reference to the movement of people from rural areas to cities, this is well known. Novels by Mrs Gaskell, such as 'North and South' and 'Mary Barton', deal with this topic in detail. Nailsworth, where my HESKINS family lived was no rural idyll. The noise from the woollen mills was no great that it was not recommended as a place where ladies of a delicate constitution would choose to live according to a contemporary message displayed in the Dunkirk Mills exhibition. When the mill wheels are put into working mode it is almost impossible to hear another person speaking... Members of the HESKINS family did move elsewhere during the first half of the nineteenth century. My own part of the family moved to Wotton-under-Edge. Ancestor Henry Matthew HESKINS moved on to Bristol, Wells, London, Witham [Essex] and died in Worcester. But he was a brushmaker and brushmakers tended to travel. Another family line moved to Bristol, where they prospered for a while. Others are found in Birmingham, Cheltenham, Bath and Neath in south Wales, not all from the Nailsworth family but all probably derived from a family living in Wotton-under-Edge in the sixteenth century. None of the HESKINses went overseas at this stage. A number of Horsley/Nailsworth residents did sail for the Antipodes when the Gloucestershire cloth industry went in to a decline, however. Nailsworth Mill, owned by Abraham Marsh FLINT was amongst the last of the mills to continue in business in the industrial village. It had previously been run by HESKINS, BARNARD and BLISS. As has been said by Jane ...the times they were a'changing... Cheers, Janet Heskins _____________________________________________ Have you considered adding "postems" to "your" events on www.freebmd.org.uk , giving your contact details? Other researchers will then be able to make contact. Click on the info button to add your postem. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message _____________________________________________________________________ Get your own family web site at www.MyFamily.com!