Charlie, Movement from townland to townland in a county was common in the first half of the nineteenth century, especially since that period includes all but the tail end of the Famine. During the Famine itself, movement increased greatly for both positive and negative reasons. The positive reason was that immigration and, unfortunately, death made available more leases for the surviving population, although taking up a lease often required displacement to another townland. The chief negative reasons for movement during the Famine years were eviction, immigration, and the death of the leaseholder. (The heirs of the latter had no guaranteed right to take up the vacated lease.) Of course, conacre renters and landless agricultural laborers were still more likely to move around even before the Famine period. Even before the beginning of the Famine in 1845-46, there had been several localized crop failures that left many tenants unable to pay their rents and thus subject to eviction. However, even at times of reasonable stability prior to the Famine, young men frequently had to take their families elsewhere in search of land to lease. Remember that townlands could encompass as few as about five acres, and Irish families were large. Some of the sons had to find land to work elsewhere, go into the Church, or immigrate. The last was particularly common in pre-Famine period among those who subsequently turned up in Wicklow or in the UK; industrialization in those areas meant that non-land-associated jobs might be available. Nancy Gray -------------- Original message from "king133@juno.com" <king133@juno.com>: -------------- > Question: Does anyone have a 'feel' for how much our ancestors moved from > townland to townland in the first half of the 1800s? > > If I look at the parish of Killoe and find only some of the children of 'James > HUGHES' in the church records there, was it likely that the other Hughes > children may have been born in another parish? or was movement from townland to > townland not commonplace in the early 1800s? > > Thanks for the help, > Charlie King > _____________________________________________________________ > Click here for free information on starting a business from your home. > http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2111/fc/Ioyw6iieVCyMhyBiTZf0iaRfVzNAZzNrCNi8 > kZpwHsf4ufWt3AUD3u/ > > > > ********************************** > Griffith's Valuations: > http://www.failteromhat.com/griffiths.php/ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > IRL-LONGFORD-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message