Finding Employment

[wayne69]

In the late 1830s one of my ancestors moved from Devon to Cambridgeshire to take on a new job.Does anyone know how he would have found out about this job vacancy,also,this is an awfully long way to travel so I wondered how long this might take,assuming he travelled by horse drawn coach.
Thanks
Wayne

[dickiesam]

In the late 1830s one of my ancestors moved from Devon to Cambridgeshire to take on a new job. Does anyone know how he would have found out about this job vacancy,also,this is an awfully long way to travel so I wondered how long this might take,assuming he travelled by horse drawn coach.
Thanks
Wayne

Hi Wayne and welcome,
One can only theorise as to how your ancestor found out about a job vacancy, if indeed he did. He may have simply been told there was work to be had, or just travelled 'on spec' and settled in Cambridgeshire. His mode of travel would probably have been on horseback or by passenger coach taking a more than couple of days. Realistically, it is hardly likely a job vacancy in Cambridgeshire would be advertised in Devon, assuming your ancestor was literate. He may have slowly migrated between censuses perhaps following available work?

Some questions....
Do you know for certain that he travelled from Devon in a single journey. Where in Devon was he living and how old was he when he left? What were his occupations in Devon and Cambridgeshire?

One possible theory of many... If he was living in a seaport town in Devon where wealthy shipping merchants were based, one of whom he might have worked for, the merchant may well have had an estate in Cambridgeshire and actually took your ancestor 'back home'.

Reading the censuses it is not unusual to find people living and working a hundred miles or more from where they were born, even in the mid-19th century, or having moved some considerable distance between censuses.