At the top of my research pile at the moment is the family of William Henry MITCHELL, my 2x great grandfather. Whilst waiting for copy of his marriage certificate (he married Harriett WRIGHT in 1860) I have been trying to plot the movement of the family across Hampshire and Sussex between the census years of 1861 and 1901.
Part of this is preparation for a visit to Hampshire Record Office some time this year in an attempt to find baptism records for the 13 children. The census returns paint an interesting picture, with almost every child being born in a different location.
My aim is to be able to plot the movement of the family on a map and produce a timeline of where they were when the various events (census and baptisms) took place. Then I may be able to focus in on some school records as well and perhaps rate books to further pinpoint where they lived at any given time.
The underlying question however is why were they so mobile? Like most of my ancestors William was an agricultural labourer, so presumably it was case of moving to find employment. However, something doesn’t seem quite right. My other family lines seem to show family movement from one generation to the next, not every two or three years.
