Hi Marilyn, From the 1851 census onwards, my ancestors that I have been able to identify are recorded as "Miner" or "Miner (coal)" in the Willenhall area. I don't think that there was much need to differentiate between coal and other miners in that area as there wasn't much (if any) other mining unlike in, for example County Durham, where there was also lead mining. Cheers Steve On 03/03/2012 14:52, Marilyn L. Arnold wrote: > Really .... I had no idea! Wow. That's fascinating. I do recall stories > being passed down about working in the dark, damp coal mines with water > dripping down. It sounded wretched. I'm just not sure who exactly were the > coal miners, since they didn't appear as such in the census records, but > think my GG GF was at one time, as a young man. No wonder he wanted to come > to "America" and become a minister -- a far easier life! > > You are saying 17th and 18th centuries -- ie 1600s, 1700s. So coal was > discovered there as early as the 1600s? > Marilyn >

> I don't think that there was much need to differentiate between coal and > other miners in that area as there wasn't much (if any) other mining > unlike in, for example County Durham, where there was also lead mining. They were also mining limestone and iron ore, which with the local coal were the main materials to start iron production in the Iron Bridge area. Coal mining went back to the Roman times, due to the seams at or just below ground level. Brian

A lot of my family were coal miners, and a trend I have noticed is that they mostly seemed to migrate from the Black Country up towards the Potteries, Derbyshire and South Yorkshire from the 1870s or so. So maybe the coal seams were beginning to run out by then or more easily worked ones being discovered elsewhere. One branch became publicans instead... Liz http://lizplummer.com/genealogy