Successfully researching our 18th-century ancestors depends very largely on their status and where they lived. Some are better documented than others.
In this era most of our forebears were more likely working-class labourers and probably poor, so we might look for evidence of their migration in Poor Law records. Many men moved for work – for the harvests in other parishes or because they were called up for the militia, the Army or the Navy.
Improved transport connections by turnpike and canals helped our ancestors to move, often prompted by economic opportunities in towns. It was certainly a century of change, and in the towns we see directories and newspapers being published for a growing middle class of traders and merchants. The privileges of the established Church, land ownership and voting were still strong, but saw a challenge from nonconformist and radical individuals. London was the power house of the age, but life and society in other cities were considerable.
Middle-class property owners, professionals and traders left wills, invested in schemes known as tontines, insured
