The Exploring Family History Tutorial
Session 2
What happened to Francis Lewin and his family?
Francis Lewin - Miller
| We know that Francis
Lewin was born in St Albans
(view), and married in
Warwickshire
(view),
and was described as a retired miller in the 1851 census
(view). Apart
from the birth of his children we have no information as to the type or
location of his mill.
Task: Check whether there was a mill at Honingham, Norfolk |
Look at GenUKI website for information on Honingham
GenUKI provides an extract from the 1845 White's Directory for Norfolk which describes Honingham.
This shows that the village had five farmers, one pub, a school, a carpenter, a blacksmith and a miller called Robert Johnson Neeve. Clearly there was a mill there in 1845. Other extracts show that Robert Neeve and the mill were still there in 1854.
In addition the web site included a very detailed page describing the history of the mill with many pictures.
In particular it states that William Lewin was there in 1836 according to White's Norfolk Directory.
In view of the above Task: Check whether there was a mill at Hilborough, Norfolk |
GenUKI provides an extract from the 1845 and 1854 White's Directories for Norfolk which describes Hilborough.
| See http://www.origins.org.uk/genuki/NFK/places/h/hilborough/white1845.shtml
and http://apling.freeservers.com/Villages/Hilborough54 |
There is also a very extensive account of the watermill, with references to Edward Leeds. There is no evidence that the Lewin family were there before him.
[Note that other references to these mills can be found in a google search for "Honingham" or "Hilborough" and the word "mill".]
| Result of
Investigation
The presence of watermills has been established in both Honingham and Hilborough, together will detailed histories, with pictures, and documented links to both the Lewin and Leeds families have been found. At this point it is appropriate to make contact with the owner of the Norfolk Watermills site to exchange information. |
Page created December 2005