RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => Topic started by: Philezra on Saturday 06 September 25 10:35 BST (UK)
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Hi.
Can anyone offer theories (I'm hoping those well read in this kind of thing can offer simply reasons that I'm niaively unaware of) as to why someone who was only 18, from the Barnstaple area, would end up in Camborne. His family (parents and sister) are still there in 1841. Pretty sure he isn't.
He marries a Camborne girl in 1848 and sets up his own building firm.
Interested in relation to the travelling part as it's quite a distance - were the railways up and running then?
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Horse and cart?
Horse?
(Barnstaple Railway Station opened in 1854)
(Cambourne Railway Station opened in 1837)
Most likely travelled by boat, I would think.
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100 miles was not that far to travel in those days, maybe he found work in different places over the years and ended up in Camborne.
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I don’t think that railway travel would have been an option in that area at that time. It’s quite possible that the easiest option would have been by sea, perhaps to St Ives?
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18 was not that young he would have already been working for at least four to six years. He may have gone in search of work depending on his job at that time. It was quite common for people to travel long distances in search of work. He could have travelled by sea as has already been suggested, horse and cart was still an option with walking in between cart rides.
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Camborne, Cornwall to Barnstaple, Devon is 104 miles by road.
1 day walking.
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Very interesting and absolutely fascinating....not sure about walking there in a day, but I get your point.
This is where I (and maybe many of us) lack the insight/knowledge of those "times".
Thank you all so much for your opinions - provokes much thought.
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A brisk walking pace is about 4.5 to 5 miles per hour.
A day is 24 hours (but we all knew that!).
100 miles would take, therefore, 20 hours?
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So done over two days minimum, surely. Eating/resting.....or am I failing to realise the approach back then?
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Doubt the pace could have been that fast. The Ramblers reckon 3 mph over moderate distances and 2.5 over longer ones.
Just checked timings on some stages of the West Highland Way - 12.5 miles of flattish route timed at 5.5-6 hours, 20 miles of hillier walking timed at 10-12 hours.
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It happened regularly.
My Wife’s Dorset family moved in stages from Bridport to Sherborne to Taunton to Manchester.
Her Great Great Great Grandfather had a clock making business in Bradford yet he married one of his Wives in Birmingham. We have no idea when or how they even met.
My Great Grandmother lived and worked from Ulverston around Morecambe Bay,
Lancaster, and St Annes before settling down.
I found Grandfather living in Lancaster yet on the next census he is working in Manchester before moving back.
With Trades one avenue that frequently happened was they went Jobbing, moving town to town obtaining work and experience.
Moving around is not new, on The Repair Shop there was one refurbishment that they did of a knife grinders cart, the owner’s ancestor had pushed said cart from Italy to London and settled there.
My own Great Great Grandparents independently travelled from central Italy to live and work in Bradford and then in Edinburgh (and yes some were Ice Cream makers and vendors).
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Thank you for this - I suppose types of travel were minimal....walking, horse....? Just wondering WHY Camborne, out of all the places....why not go North?
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Tin mining
Copper mining
Camborne was just a village until transformed by the mining boom which began in the late 18th century and saw the Camborne and Redruth district become the "richest square mile in the old world".
Apart from the mines themselves, Camborne was also home to many important related industries, including the once world-renowned foundry of Holman Bros Ltd (CompAir). Holmans, a family business founded in 1801, was for generations, Camborne's, and indeed Cornwall's largest manufacturer of industrial equipment, even making the famous Sten submachine gun for a stint during the Second World War.
Then there was Camborne School Of Mines, planned in 1829.
On Christmas Eve 1801, the Puffing Devil – a steam-powered road locomotive built by Camborne engineer Richard Trevithick – made its way up Camborne Hill in Cornwall. It was the world's first self-propelled passenger carrying vehicle.
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Yes but he was a Carpenter. He did, together with his son Frank start a very successful building business with many properties within Camborne (hopefully) still there?
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Have you considered that he may have moved to take up an apprenticeship
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The trouble is that I am completely ignorant as to the possibilities/logistics in life back then.
I am forever picking up on things (from the great helpers on this site) that I simply would never consider!
Thank you for this.
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Where is he in 1851
Ignore that I see you have another post on his whereabouts :)
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=893750.msg1;topicseen#new
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Yes but he was a Carpenter. He did, together with his son Frank start a very successful building business with many properties within Camborne (hopefully) still there?
Mines needed carpenters! :D
Indeed, most industries needed carpenters.
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Again, another example of how very little I know...of the connections, how life/occupations worked. I therefore don't have those lateral thoughts....very superficial mind I'm afraid.
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The "Very few of our ancestors travelled more than 10 miles from their birthplace" has been totally shattered to smithereens by genealogy research.
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It's certainly an eye opener for me.
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quote author=Philezra link=topic=893735.msg7680139#msg7680139 date=1757241821]
Yes but he was a Carpenter. He did, together with his son Frank start a very successful building business with many properties within Camborne (hopefully) still there?
[/quote]
There is more to mining than digging out the ore.
There are all the mine props to create.
The frames and water wheels that powered the pumps and crushing equipment were initially made out of timber.
They had timber trucks running on wooden rails.
The mine building itself, workers cottages, landing stages going out to sea.
Plenty of opportunity for a skilled craftsman and or his apprentice.