_____ "Would anyone on the List be ableto help me with the following question? Kevenhuller Skinner ran a goldsmith's shop in London until sometime after 1777 when he seems to have moved to Kent. I found this advertisement on the net: To be Let to the Best Bidder: (and May be Entered on Immediately) on a Lease for 21 Years, Commencing at Michaelmas Next, at a Clear Rent, Free from All Deductions Whatever, at the Fountain Inn, in Canterbury, on Wednesday May 31, 1780, at Four O'clock in the Afternoon, All the Messuage Or Tenement, Now Divided Into Two Messuages Or Tenements, Together with Nineteen Acres, Two Roods, Twenty-three Perches of Land, (more Or Less) Lying and Being in the Parish of St. Michael, Harbledown, Near Canterbury, in the County of Kent, Late in the Occupation of Mr. Kevenhuller Skinner http://books.google.com.au/books/about/To_be_Let_to_the_Best_Bidder.html?id= 8QZmNQEACAAJ <http://books.google.com.au/books/about/To_be_Let_to_the_Best_Bidder.html?id =8QZmNQEACAAJ&redir_esc=y> &redir_esc=y By 1781 he seems later to have moved to North Lane in Canterbury where his children were baptised at HolyCross. His will makes no mention of this land. My question is why would a seemingly successful trained goldsmith, move to the country onto what seems farmland and then to Canterbury where his will describes him as "Engineer and broker" (whatever those terms mean)? " David Cornelius

His apprenticeship started in 1759 and was for 7 years so theoretically he wouldn´t have been free till mid 1766. You state that he was a successfully trained goldsmith but all we know is that he ran a goldsmiths shop. Have you any proof he finished his apprenticeship, not everyone did? Seemingly he married Mary, a minor, in 1767, not very long after he would have finished his apprenticeship, so he probably wouldn´t have had much money to do so; another reason for thinking he may not have served his full term as most fathers consenting to their daughters marriage would have wanted to know there was enough income to support her. Several children were born in London. A great many more were born in Canterbury so are you also sure it was the same wife - Mary was a very common name. Maybe he even left London to go off with another woman. The advertisement only says ¨late in the occupation´ it does not say that he was the owner. Sorry a lot of negatives I know but could explain some things. Diane