Lineage and Lingerers: Why Our Ancestors Stayed Put

This presentation was originally presented as part of the 2019 Society of One Place Studies annual seminar.

In an investigation of residential persistence, Janet Few looks at what factors encouraged families to remain in one place whilst others move on. Are there common features that mark out these dynastic families’, those that establish themselves in a community over several generations? Do particular occupations, landownership or the presence of extended kin make a family more likely to stay? Drawing on her studies of several communities in North Devon, Janet explains how we can investigate residential persistence in families or communities.