I am continually amazed at the wealth of information that can be found at the end of a Google Search. I can sit at my desk for hours, going off on one tangent after another but all the time finding great information that fills in around the dates of the family I am searching for.
Today I was searching for CHARLES HOBBS who was born in 1814 in Ham, Wiltshire, England. Since Charles lived his life in Berkshire County, I was unsure as to whether this was the correct Charles. But a quick search for Ham, Wiltshire told me that this town was very near the area of Berkshire where he lived. So, although I am not absolutely positive this is a correct birth entry, it is a possibililty to think about now and not discard.
As I dug through the life of Charles, I discovered that in the 1881 Census he was listed as being a Pauper in the Union Workhouse in Wallingford, Berkshire. A quick Google search took me to an interesting site that talks about workhouses in general and had information, including maps and pictures on the Wallingford workhouse in particular. What a great find! There was even a list of menus giving me some idea of the food they might have served. http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Wallingford/
Another fact I learned about Charles - he was a Tanner's assistant. A quick Google search gave me more information than I probably want about this occupation. It seems like a Tanner would be a nasty and smelly occupation - and I can only imagine what a Tanner's Assistant's jobs might be - probably the worst of the worst.
Sarah, the wife of Charles died at age 45. Charles continued to raise their three sons. Searching around the internet gave me some idea of what his life might have been like. Not very pleasant by our measure. And although it appears as though one of his sons died before he went into the workhouse, at least one of them was still alive and married. So one wonder's what drove him to the workhouse and why he couldn't stay with one of his sons? Perhaps I'm putting too much modern thought into this and of course I will most likely never get the answer to that question.
Maybe I'll stumble on the answers on the Internet.
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