Thomas GREEN son of James GREEN and Esther (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Wednesday, August 24, 2016, 19:21 (3023 days ago) @ macast

hi Graham..... I dismissed these births at first.... but it does make sense that there were children born to James and Esther soon after their marriage in 1823.

James GREEN was a Tailor at these baptisms... (James 1824 and Eliza 1826) but at the baptism of twins William and Mary Ann in 1828 he is said to be a Labourer

do you suppose this could be the same James and Esther GREEN and that James fell on hard times as a Tailor ... or had an accident.... or his eyesight was failing????

Hi Marcie,
I've only browsed thro this thread so apologies if I'm missing the obvious.
Re how James apparently went from Tailor to Ag Labourer, you may well be right that ill-health was an issue, but also please think on the following;

1. Huntley had a small population in those days, probably smaller than when this 1884 map was drawn. Was it big enough to support a full-time tailor ?
http://maps.nls.uk/view/101453124

2. It wasn't unusual for people to over-egg their occupations, perhaps he wasn't a fully fledged/skilled tailor at all in the modern sense, maybe he was an occasional "tailor's assistant" when his other labouring jobs were quiet, or a labourer who had some sewing skills & tools adequate for a small country community.

3. Using this site's Advanced Search feature I've just searched for Baptisms of all surnames which include the word "Huntley" within the Residence info, this gives a list of "just" 1291 entries out of an overall database of over 431,000 ! Scanning down this list shows a William Green, shoemaker c1810s, wife Elizabeth, is he in your tree ? Continuing thro' the 1820s and 1830s etc shows a very distinct lack of tailors in the area, the overwhelming majority are labourers, farm or woodland related as expected in this area, altho it may be relevant that there's also a mercer (textiles merchant), Henry Hale, at abt this time. Similar scanning thro the 1841 Census for Huntley will give you a further idea as to the occupations in the village, albeit a little later of course.
http://forest-of-dean.net/joomla/index.php/advanced-search

4. Even as late as 1876 there appears to be just the one tailor in Huntley, which then boasted abt 500 population.
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cbennett/huntley1876.htm

Just a few miles away, so an easy walk (in those days), Longhope has double the population yet no tailor, perhaps as they hadn't paid to be listed, or maybe 'cos there wasn't one, by now the locals could be buying clothes by catalogue or in their trips into Gloucester. Eitherway I think it unlikely that Huntley would have it's own, permanent, tailor c1830.
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cbennett/longhope1870.htm

The excellent University of Leicester Old Directories website has an 1849 Directory of Gloucester(shire) and Bristol, Hunts and Co. It doesn't mention Huntley or even Longhope specifically, but does have a section for nearby Mitcheldean which lists three tailors in the area (no Greens), Newent is also featured. Hopefully this link will take you straight there, if not look for page 133 etc in the righthand index column.
http://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p16445coll4/id/167159/...

Hoping this helps, good luck, Jeff.