Our ancestors moved around surprisingly frequently, largely because of the way in which employment was organised in agricultural and domestic work. Hiring Fairs were held three or four times a year in towns and villages throughout the County. Employers went to the Fairs looking for workers and workers went looking for employment. The actual hiring period was usually a short-term matter and was often linked to the days (such as Lady Day) on which, by custom, rents were paid, wages were due and outstanding bills were settled.

In the distant past, most of the movement of labour took place fairly close to the village or town where people had their roots but as the 19th century progressed and agriculture passed through hard times, people began to think the grass might be greener further away and they were prepared to travel long distances to seek work.

By the late 1830s, Kingsteignton was a thriving place. Clay was being mined on several important sites in and around the village. A local landowner, Lord Clifford, had opened up a track connecting Kingsteignton to near-by Chudleigh Knighton and open cast mining had begun all along this route as the china clay industry boomed. There was full employment and Kingsteignton was a prosperous place.

Around 1840, a young man called James Stentiford made the journey from Zeal Monachorum to Kingsteignton to find work on a farm there. He was the son of John Stentiford and Elizabeth Pike and his story must wait until another Issue but suffice to say, he looked around him, saw opportunities in this thriving place and built on them. He married a local girl in 1842, eventually becoming an employer of others, with a diversity of interests which included the village bakery.