"One of the branches of our Dewsbury family from Sutton Bonnington lived in Normanton on Soar, James Dewsbury (brother of John and Lucy) and his wife Sarah (nee Hall).  They had 7 children in the 1850s/60s all born in Normanton on Soar.  However it is James father Lawrence Dewsbury that I am contacting you about.  I will include the story of his disappearance so you will understand what I am on about.

A relative says she was told by her grandmother Mary Dewsbury that Mary's grandfather Lawrence had worked on the barges, and it was part of his job to go along to collect the men's wages each week by barge.  It was wages collection day when he went missing and since the wages had been collected from the bank and no sign was seen or heard of Lawrence again, it was presumed he had absconded with the money.  Years later a man made a death-bed confession, saying that he was one of a gang of men who lay in wait for Lawrence and robbed and killed him.  He also said if someone were to dig in the stable-yard of the Plough Inn at Normanton-on-Soar, a pub on the banks of the canal, they would find his body.  Apparently a body was found buried where the old stables had been but of course it was many years later and identification was impossible.  Lawrence disappeared around 1835 and his wife and 6 children were living in Sutton Bonnington.  Elizabeth Dewsbury, his wife, was a Marriott.  Lucy White said on her shipping papers that her father had not been seen or heard of for about 15 years. 

Of course the above story is just family legend and may or may not be true but I thought it worth investigating.  I know someone from one of the Sutton Bonnington lines of the family has been to the Plough Inn at Normanton on Soar to see if they knew anything about the story but they didn't.  I was wondering if there was a section of your website where you could publish the above information in the hope that someone might read it and be able to give us any further information.  I know this is a long shot as it all happened about 175 years ago but we are at a complete brick wall and don't know where else to go for further information."