How common was this in the 1880's

My great, great grand parents temporarily relocated from the USA
to my great great grandmothers family home in Smethwick, Staffordshire
to ensure that my great grandfather was born on British soil. They
moved back to the USA 4 years after his birth.

CWatters...

I maybe wrong but when someone gets pregnant in one of the historical novels
or period TV dramas don't they allways get shipped off home to be looked
after by a worldly femail relative.

How common was this and why ?

Jill...

Steve
I have a couple of incidences that might follow a similar pattern
One family went to the US from Yorkshire with a couple of children, had one
more there
Subsequent children were born in the UK
The father was here for only one.
The mother returned to the US between a couple and with the whole family in
the end.
So whether the father needed more time to make enough money; or the
conditions were even poorer than at home where the mother had a significant

Roy Stockdill...

Indeed, it used to be, and there were numerous stories in the 20th
century of husbands in families that had left Yorkshire shipping their
pregnant wives back across the county border in the hope that the child
would be a boy and be eligible to play cricket for the county.

There is also a story, which may well be apocryphal, of a lad born in
Todmorden, right on the Yorks-Lancs border, who was much sought after
by both counties. The River Calder was the county boundary and it is
said there was much argument about which side of the river he'd been
born!

However, much to the chagrin of we traditionalists, the rule that only
those born in Yorkshire could play for the county was dropped some time
in the 1980s or 90s, since when Yorkshire has had a number of "foreign"
players from other counties and overseas players from India and
Australia. Michael Vaughan, for instance, Yorkshire and England captain,
was actually born in Lancashire but his parents moved to Sheffield when
he was a lad.

extented family, even if they were all low working class, or some other
reason I doubt I will know.
There may be many reasons to ponder - and its valuable to do so. This way
you get more and more into the mindset of the family you are researching
Reading here regularly helps a great deal as there are always new things to
learn about the social history as well as the mechanics of genealogy which
you can take back to your own research

Anne Chambers...

Perhaps she simply missed her mum and wanted some family support for her
?first? child. Especially if they had done fairly well in the 'New
World' and had the money to relocate, even if only a one-way fare
initially (which would explain the wait of 4 years before the return).
What was the father's occupation ?

Steve Stone...

singhals...

Leaving aside the statistical issues which make the question
unanswerable ... if you're CERTAIN that's why they went
back, it was very rare. It would still be rare if they went
back for sentimental reasons, and going home in an
emergency wouldn't have made the cut in the 19th century or
earlier because you wouldn't have been told about it until
it was over.

It was rare because few people could afford the
passage-money, and few pregnant women would have voluntarily
gotten back aboard ship (who needs sea-sick battling it out
with morning-sick?).

Then, let's back up and ask how certain you are that they
were in the US to begin with? Perhaps they were just not in

Steve Stone...

That is a very good question that I will have to research.
Since my great great grandfather was a minister he may have had extensive
travels.

Staffordshire, came back to have the baby and then
emigrated? Or perhaps someone in your family has the same
warped sense of humor my family has -- gggm went to the US
Embassy in London, thus being on US soil, then went back
home to Staffordshire?

He was a Methodist minister. Name: Mark Grace, Wife: Rebecca Edge

Hugh Watkins...

try and find some circuit records
he may have been a popular speaker

did he make slide shows?

myths...

It sounds less surprising that he travelled for work and had enough
savings to be able to come home occasionally.

In my husband's family, families (head of household a bricklayer;
head of household a brick & tile moulder) travelled every few years
from 1890 to 1914 between Vancouver or Calgary and Kent - just to
renew contacts with friends and family back home, and to check which
country they preferred. If they stayed in Kent any length of time,
they found work.

He was also an avid photographer. I wish he had made more notations on his
photos.
Some of the more interesting ones were a photo of him on an ice flow, and a
family picnic in a cemetery, which seems strange today but based on some
personal research I found it was quite common in the New York City area
before there was an expansion of park systems.

My Mother's family were active Free Masons.
I wonder if they keep records on past members ?

Charani...

Yes, they do. You'd need to contact the main Masonic Temple but I
can't tell you more than that because females aren't supposed to know
anything about the Masons ;))

Jo Taylor...

Yes, indeed they do. I had very willing replies to my enquiries, even though
a mere woman :)

They didn't have a lot of information but the subjects lived a long time
ago. They were able to give various dates and levels of membership IIRC.

I had a gt-gt-grandfather who travelled extensively - Prussia > USA >
Prussia > London > South Africa; his membership was 1830s - 1880s. And a
gt-grandfather, his son-in-law who became a Mason in South Africa (1858).

I wrote to:
The Library and Museum of Freemasonry,
Freemason’s Hall,
Great Queen Street
London WC2B 5AZ

Give them all the information (names, dates). They can take a while to
reply.

Jo Taylor

Hugh Watkins...

very much so going back centuries

Hugh W