My great-great-great grandmother Jane Bowes was born in Leeds in 1838, daughter of John Bowes and Bella (formerly Butterfield).
John Bowes was born in Boltby, near Felixkirk, North Yorkshire, about 1805. When I found him on the census returns, the family were in Leeds, and then later moved to the Rochdale area.
While looking for John Bowes, I discovered other people with the Bowes name, also in Leeds, who also gave Boltby, or the nearby Felixkirk, as their birthplace. As these were villages with a small population at the beginning of the 19th century, it seems likely that these were relatives of John Bowes, b abt 1805, and the available IGI records from the parish registers support this. The IGI records suggest that James Bowes and Christopher Bowes are brothers or cousins to my John Bowes, and that an older John Bowes, born abt 1782 is his father. John Bowes senior is listed in the directories as a milk seller, or a farmer, apparently still retaining a connection with the older, rural occupations. John Bowes junior, in contrast, works in the factories.
The migration of the Bowes family from Boltby to Leeds and other cities is I guess just one small illustration of the widespread migration during this period, as families followed available work opportunities.
I've included in a summary format, in printable tables, the information I have so far on the people with the Bowes name, who say that they hail from Boltby, and who were living in Leeds (and in one case moved to Bradford) in the early to mid 19th century.
Most of the links below, at present, lead straight to the summaries of information, as I'm still researching this branch of the family. The only one so far who has a page of prose as well is Jane Bowes - my great-great-great grandmother - who was working as a "Doffer" in the factories by the age of 13.