My ggrandfather (b. abt 1843)said he came from "Berkeley"; my 90-year-old Dad remembers that clearly. All evidence points to birth in or near Abinghall/Mitcheldean. How close are the ties with Berkeley for people who lived/worked in or near the Forest?

< at the risk of being shot down>

Berkley, Glos is not part of the FoD; in fact in the C19 it would probably have benn considered a world away.

Thats not to say that folk from the other side of the River Severn did not come over to the Forest for work etc, but socially the Forest was a very close community.

Flaxley is close to Abenhall/Mitcheldean, any chance of confusion ?

regards
S

... and I should not overlook the Rail link between Lydney and Berkley from approx 1880 until the accident with the Severn Rail bridge in 1960 brought the service to a halt ! ( via Purton and Sharpness)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/focus/2004/10/sharpness_rail_disaster.shtml

ª Funny you should say "flaxley". I think I've seen Charles and his younger
brother Philip as teenage "servants" at a farm in Flaxley in the 1861
census - microfilm is so bad I can't be sure. I will ask my Dad about
Berkeley vs. Flaxley, but i also have 'Berkeley" in notes left by my mother,
who interviewed HER mil, Charles' daughter-in-law!
Just a lovely puzzle to unravel

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/focus/2004/10/sharpness_rail_disaster.shtml

Thank you. I have saved that link. I've wondered whether he worked in
Sharpness before heading for the US in about 1870? "Sharpness" is also in my Dad's
memory, but when I suggested "Shapridge" he agree it could have been that,
instead.