Hi Sue
Absolutely great stuff! Many thanks for all the time you have spent doing this for me.
The weather has been awful lately so I have been busy. I have printed everything out so I can compare the farm holdings with each other. From the last listing of Thomas's farm holdings it appears that by 1809 quite a few of them have been transferred to William. I had William down as being Samuel's son, but it is just possible he was Thomas's.
It is really interesting comparing the holdings of the farms over time. You can follow a person's life by the movements of pieces of land.
I still can't believe how much stuff was in that last doc - the bit I asked for was only one tiny bit of it, but I had thought it was the whole doc. I've had a look on the SRO online catalogue and it lists all the different bits and pieces, so I obviously wasn't very thorough with my notes for the refs first time round. It was very good of you to go through the whole document - over and above the call of duty!
The earlier details are very welcome as I can tie them in with the earlier Robinsons known to me. The 1711/12 bit was a very pleasant surprise. The Thomas mentioned is the earliest Robinson I knew about at Swynnerton. It looks like William's rental is being transferred to Thomas as 2 amounts match, so William could be Thomas's father.
It is unfortunate that names of farms are generally not given until after 1800. I will be on the lookout for an old map of Swynnerton which will hopefully list the fields etc in detail by name so I can find the location of the farms.
Whilst checking the SRO online catalogue, I gave it a more thorough look and there are other bits and pieces which might be useful. I am looking at bridging the gap between the farm breakdowns in 1765 and the end of the century, just to be more certain I have got things right. I am puzzled by the 'Thomas Robinson for carriages and sythes' in Swynnerton in 1776.
I don't want you to spend a lot more time looking things up for me, so have selected what looks the most straightforward as well as the most useful, if you are still willing.
D641/5/ES/6 1788
Contains:-
Hatton & Shelton valuation by Richard Smith
By tenant, field no. (no map), acreage with list of woods & commons
(no need to list the woods and commons)
D641/5/ES/3 1774
Contains:-
Hatton, Shelton survey of estates
By tenants, field name, acreage
D641/5/EV/9 1756-1827
About half-way through this reference, which contains quite a few documents,
is:-
Swinnerton, rental name and amounts 1802,1801,1808,1809,1817
The rest of the documents in here are not relevant.
Please take your time with these look-ups if you are willing to do them. It's quite OK though if you have had enough.
Rob's Staffs ancestors all seem to be farmers, with a few blacksmiths thrown in! My Yorkshire and elsewhere ancestors were mostly tradesmen, blacksmiths, shoemakers and quite a few stone masons. I think I might have liked to be a stone mason if I had been a man in those times!
Thanks again for all you help.
Best wishes
Liza
