Dear List,
Thomas Darch was born in High Bickington, Devon in 1784. He died in Combe Martin Devon in 1841. He married Elizabeth (Betty) Sanders of Combe Martin (1794-1858) in 1814. On the 1841 Census Thomas was cited as an 'agricultural labourer'. On the 1851 census after his death, his wife Betty Saunders was cited as 'pauper/miners widow'. So, we can assume that Thomas was engaged at some time in mining and was probably one of the many in Devon who had dual occupations - that of working on the land and mining when called for.
Richard Darch, his father, died when Thomas was 12 years of age in 1796. Presumably between 1796 and his marriage to Betty in 1814, and subsequently, he had to earn a living - was this period where his occupation was a miner?
The purpose of the above preamble is to enquire if there are records relating to employees at the various mining enterprises in Devon from 1796 to 1841?
His living descendants believe that he was mining in Cornwall and was one of the individuals cited in the extract below:
"Grampy Wilf DARCH used to come to our house to pick up scraps for his hens; it didn't take much to get him telling us tales of his family. Apparently they originated as D'ARCY but it changed over the years. He told us that his grandfather and brother set out, walking, from the Cornish tin mines when there was less work (or fewer mines), with the intention of coming to Combe Martin to work in the silver mines. Grampy Wilf's grandfather made it but his brother stopped half way - I think it was Tavistock or somewhere round there, where mining work was available. This tale told in 1999, by Jo Taylor who was then approaching 50".
However, If I have heard this tale from one family in Combe Martin, I have heard it from 10. It clearly has some origin, but I feel it has been claimed by many as something of a folklore story.
Any assistance regarding appropriate records gratefully received.
Trevor
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