From Somerset to the Welsh Valleys

[Mrs Food]

I am trying to work out how my gggg grandfather managed to move his family of 6 children from the village of West Harptree in Somerset to the Rhondda Valley in South Wales in the late 1860's.
 I assume they must have come across by boat from Bristol or possibly by train, but how could a poor man afford to pay the passage for a family of 8?? I was just wondering if anybody could give me any info on the migration of workers from Somerset to the Coalmines in South Wales? or does anyone else have a similar story??
I am really intrigued and would be delighted if someone could enlighten me!

Best Wishes

Mrs Food

[Crinoline]

I am trying to work out how my gggg grandfather managed to move his family of 6 children from the village of West Harptree in Somerset to the Rhondda Valley in South Wales in the late 1860's.
 I assume they must have come across by boat from Bristol or possibly by train, but how could a poor man afford to pay the passage for a family of 8?? I was just wondering if anybody could give me any info on the migration of workers from Somerset to the Coalmines in South Wales? or does anyone else have a similar story??
I am really intrigued and would be delighted if someone could enlighten me!
Best Wishes
Mrs Food

Hi MrsF,

I think that it is possible to equate the stories of migrant workers from (for example) Eastern Europe or the Asian Sub-continent to the Uk in search or better prospects & more money today, to the movement to the Industrial boom centres in the mid 19th Century within the UK then.

Put simply, - I think that people found a way of moving to where the work was!
Possibly your 4xGF moved first, & then sent the money back for his wife & family to follow after?

Romilly.

[Watermusic]

Where there's a will there's a way.

One of my late father-in-law's brothers walked from Teheran to Manchester, apart from the ship to Liverpool.... and the only English word he knew was Manchester - as it was printed on the end of a bolt of cloth.

Watermusic

[sandra bills]

Hi there
My family all came over from Somerset and I was
told that the coal industry used to ship passengers
with free passage on the coal barges from Bristol
]Basin.   This free passage was an incentive to miners
to work in South wales.
Sandra

[Mrs Food]

Thankyou all very much for your replies which have given me plenty to think about! Much appreciated.

Best wishes

Mrs F

[janetd]

A number of my Anstice ancestors moved from Pill St George where they were mariners/pilots to Newport at about the same time. One of the family was listed as a dockmaster and others as mariners. I assume they sailed across! I can remember trips being available by boat from Newport to Ilfracombe and I think to Weston or Clevedon as well, though I am less certain of that. Janet.