I agree with Nivard - much of the hiring was done through word of mouth, family connections etc. and certainly the various churches had networks of contacts. One of mine tree members was working for a succession of clergymen over a period of at least 40 years - on each census a different employer in a different part of the country. When looking for other members of the family on the later censuses several were employed at his previous employers or for other clergy. There were also hiring fairs which covered mainly household and agricultural labourers but sometimes other jobs - people travelled for miles to be hired. This is why you can often find someone working 100 miles from home. These are covered by an article on Wikipedia. Wendy > Possibilities that I can think of include personal recommendation, but I > know of no family connections between Market Harborough and Woodstock > before > Archie arrived; he was a staunch member of the Temperance movement so it > could have been a recommendation within that, but it seems unlikely to > draw > someone 'unknown' from further afield ... > > Or could he have responded to an advertisement? That's my real question: I > have failed to find any such adverts being placed, so were such things > done > in the latter part of the 1890s? And if so, not having found such an > advert > in the Times (which would have reached outside the county of Oxfordshire), > where best to look? > > My two current brick walls then, if anyone has ideas of where to look. > > Chris Howes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Interactive Oxfordshire parish map: http://searches.oxfordshirefhs.org.uk/pardata.html ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to OXFORDSHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message