Moving on

Well, my work is starting to effect the amount of time I can spend on this project. I was doing a 4-day week which meant I could spend time at the local records offices digging further.
I have been talking to an ex-colleague, who was also made redundant at the same time as myself - he had some problems with the laptop he bought when we closed so I popped over to sort it.
He had finally gained a new job, as a director for a firm of shelf makers up north. I told him about my quest with Annie (Fenwick) Pigg and of the birthplace of Frances being in the Hexham area. Turns out he is looking in that area for accomodation so has promised to have a look around and see if he can locate Black Pastures Cottage so watch this space!

I haven't been totally idle though, I've started looking on the Essex line, trying to find Levi Essex birthplace etc. We have always been told he originated from Coventry, although in the examinations book of Mkt Harborough it shows him (the family) coming from Long Lawford (Nr Rugby) to Harborough, so mum had never looked along the Coventry trail.
I visited Rugby library recently and did manage to pick up some info on some Essex's in the area. It seems Long Lawford never had a church in those days, the one that is there now being built in around 1859 (40 years after Levi left) and is now in disrepair. There is a notice in the churchyard stating that the people of Long Lawford would trek across the fields to Newbold on Avon to worship at the church there. I went to the churchyard there, but no sign of any Essex headstones (I did find some in Long Lawford though, some as recent as 1960!).
The next phase is to visit the library in Coventry or the county records office in Warwick to take a look at the parish records for St. Michaels - now the cathedral. This is where I hope to find Levis birth record.
Looking on some genealogy internet sites and contacting others who are tracing the same line it appears that Levis parents might be William Essex and Elizabeth Clay and were married in Wolvey, near Nuneaton. The records for there are in Rugby library too so another trip there is also in the pipeline.
It's just finding the time to do this now!