Change of occupation

[ozgirl]

How likely is it for someone to change their occupation back and forth. One of my OH's ggf's seems to have gone between being a labourer and a mason according to the Bishops Transcripts of his childrens births.

He was born in 1781 and his wife in 1784 and they married in 1805. So far so good. Thet had their first child in 1805. In 1813 when they had their 5th child his occupation was entered as mason. In 1816, with no 6. the occupation was Labourer, also for No's 7 and 8. For no's 9 - 11 it was back to mason, then labourer and then mason again. For no's 14 and 15 however, for a change it is down as Parish clerk, then we go back to Mason, Labourer and Mason for the last 3. By this time the wife should have been 55 and was still having children on a fairly frequent basis. I have checked through the parish records and can find no other marriages between a Richard and Mary. They lived in a fairly small village in Dorset, and the same surnames crop up all the time. So would this be a likely scenarion or should i dig further?

Linda

[Olde Crone Holden]

I don't like Bishop's Transcripts because they lack detail sometimes which is present on the actual register.

My instinct is that you have at least two families there...or one man married twice, both times to a Mary. I think it extremely unlikely she would still be having children at 55 in those days.

Mason to labourer and back again...well, a man worked at whatever work was available, so it COULD be the same man, but I reckon it isn't.

OC

[ozgirl]

I went through the entire 1841 census for the village - it's only 9 pages, and interestingly there seem to be two Mary's living alone each with some of the children. No sign of Richard anywhere. Also , though this could be coincidence, the younger mary is the age of their first child who was called Mary. I have now found a Richard who died in 1834, roughly the right age for the older one. Have done some more checking and found another Richard who dies in 1839, so they must have married outside the area and then moved there to have kids. Now all I have to do is sort out whose kids are whose, and which ones are my lot. Thanks for your help.

Linda