Moving ancestors.....

[Fife49er]

Hi

I have an ancestor (great-great-grandad David Stewart who according to several sources was born in Bristol in or about 1822. Now, his father (Robert) who was a tailor was born in the Fife village of Ceres, as was his own son Peter - David married a St. Andrews girl round about 1854. So far, I have not been able to trace his parents' marriage or the birth of his mother Harriet Martin.

My assumption so far is that Robert moved to the Bristol area, met & married a local girl, then the family returned to Fife in the early 1850s, at least prior to David's marriage and Robert's death in 1869.

Question is.....can anyone think up a plausible reason for Robert moving the best part of 400 miles, from a rural Scottish community to a trading city/port - and then coming all the way back up again? There's no evidence the family was wealthy, indeed the opposite seems to be the case.

Any theories, however unlikely, would be welcome!

Alan Stewart

[HeatherH]

Welcome to Talking Scot Fife 49er.My best guess is he may have returned to help support the family.
HeatherK

[JustJean]

Hi there Fife49er and I'll echo Heather's welcome!

The only theories I've ever been able to deduce in my own research for moving incredible distances is for employment. Although families tended to be amazingly close knit....especially those that came over from NI....and usually can be found living in close configurations. Moving frequently was a common experience of my miner ancestors but I also have a GrGrGrandfather whose whole family was in Ayrshire and he pops up in Staffordshire (with no known connection to the area!!) and then goes and marries a girl in Gloucestershire and settles there until her death and then he packs up the kids and goes back to Scotland. In your case though it doesn't appear to be for employment....I would think a tailor would be very versatile and able to set up shop wherever he wished. That only leaves some kind of family connection to the area.

I noticed in your other post that you have Morris listed as a surname interest. I have some non-blood connections to a Morris family from Fife and even some photos. Mine was James Morris first married to Ann McLeod in Dunfermline 1845 and then married to Marion Adie in 1850. Don't suppose there are any connections?

Best wishes
Jean

[DavidWW]

Alan

All I can offer is at that time, the major trading ports in Scotland were on the East coast, - Leith, Montrose, Aberdeen, and points in between, - along with my comment that Bristol at that point was a similarly major trading port in the SW of England........... (there might also just have been some connection with the then fast developing Glasgow/Port Glasgow/Greenock tobacco and sugar trade, and internal Scottish connections ??)

In other words, some connection in terms of trade ??..........

Davie

[mesklin]

Alan

Bristol was a centre for woolen, then later, cotton clothmaking. A good place for a tailor.

As to why a Fifer would move over 400 miles down to England. Work and having a close relative marry an English boy or girl. Worked for me.

Mesklin

[StewL]

Hello Alan

I dont think I can add to anything that has been said about your flitting relatives. I too have a GGgrandfather who went to Alverstoke in Hampshire and had my Grandmother there, but the good people on the previous SP pointed out that as he was in the "engine fitter" trade and the likes it could have just been following the jobs. They too returned to Scotland at a unknown later date, and for unknown reasons.

[Fife49er]

Thanks to all who replied. Looking at the responses, it seems there's a common thread running through - appropriate, since the relly in question was a tailor! Wonder if I can weave something out of it all?

Enough of the bad jokes - I think there's merit in the suggestion that Robert followed the possibility of work in what was then a big trade centre. the fact that his family were unquestionably from the Fife area would be the "draw" to bring him back up here again.

The only point I'd raise here is - if he wanted the certainty of work in a busy trade cente, then surely Glasgow was closer, and arguably less "foreign"? At the end of the 18th century trade with the Americas was already making some Glasgow traders rich, and the Industrial Revolution was just getting under way, bringing even more wealth.

Be that as it may, Robert seems to have chosen Bristol, so that's where the next stage of my research is going to take me.

Thanks again to all respondents.

Alan Stewart

[DavidWW]

....snipped ...........The only point I'd raise here is - if he wanted the certainty of work in a busy trade cente, then surely Glasgow was closer, and arguably less "foreign"? At the end of the 18th century trade with the Americas was already making some Glasgow traders rich, and the Industrial Revolution was just getting under way, bringing even more wealth.

I can't fault that logic, but then our ancestors weren't always so logical

Be that as it may, Robert seems to have chosen Bristol, so that's where the next stage of my research is going to take me.

I can't fault that logical approach !! Go for it

....Thanks again to all respondents.

That's the whole "raison d'être" of this Discussion Group

Davie

[Fife49er]

As a footnote.......

Robert Stewart has been located in the 1851 census for Ceres, staying with his son David (born in England, as I already knew) and another son Daniel, who it seems was also born in England.

In the Rank, Profession & Occupation column, Robert is shown as "Tailor, Chelsea Pensioner".

if the latter is genuine *and not a silly mistake on the census taker's part), this could add a piece to the puzzle.........

[DavidWW]

As a footnote.......

Robert Stewart has been located in the 1851 census for Ceres, staying with his son David (born in England, as I already knew) and another son Daniel, who it seems was also born in England.

In the Rank, Profession & Occupation column, Robert is shown as "Tailor, Chelsea Pensioner".

if the latter is genuine *and not a silly mistake on the census taker's part), this could add a piece to the puzzle.........

Perfectly possible that his then occupation was "Tailor", but that, based on previous military service that he was also a Chelea (Out) Pensioner, i.e the great majority of Chelsea Pensioners didn't reside in Chelsea!!

Davie