JAMES - Pigot's Directory Coleford 1830 (General)

by pojames , Thursday, July 25, 2013, 17:49 (4141 days ago) @ m p griffiths

Could well be - but the only direct relatives I have for Thomas are his children (Edwin, Theophilus, Benjamin and Richard: 1841 census) and his (probable) parents John and Mary (baptism record of 'Thomas James' Coleford 1806). They being pre-census, I have no occupations for John, if indeed he is this Thomas's father.

As far as I can see, almost every other person has the surname James: doubly confusing when a James marries a James, of which I've found a couple of examples ! So it's a bit of a minefield, and I'm not risking going any further than a probable John at the moment. Even 'stonecutter' may not be as helpfully defining as all that, since almost all the males seem to have either mined or quarried.

Thanks, anyway ! At the moment I'm just trying to do a bit more from the earliest census returns - in particular why the family left the FOD at some point post-1850, and where they went. The potted history seems to indicate that there was a bit of an exodus rather later than that; but I suppose if the Thomas's father (the probable John) died post-1850 and left him quite well off he might have sold up and taken off for pastures new.