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Topic: finding ancestral homes (Read 356 times)
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hillsandmoors
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 44
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I always have an urge to find houses that my ancestors lived in, just to feel that connection. To me this is just as much fun as tracing an individual as often all you've got to go on is landmarks on the census page.
Mind you, since many of my ancestors lived in tiny villages in North Yorkshire, it sometimes raises suspicions with the locals when you are seen wandering up and down staring at all the houses, though when we explain what we are looking for it's a great ice breaker and we've had some very useful information from the locals.
Anyone got any good house searching stories?
Hillsandmoors
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c-side
RootsChat Veteran
Posts: 606
A new generation - my great grandson 11-09-09
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I was lucky enough not to have to search for my favourite ancestral cottages. I was given a postcard when I was young which my grandfather told me was where our family used to live about 100 years ago. Even then I loved history so it was kept among my 'treasures'.
Then much later I found a picture of an etching of the front of these houses which meant that I could identify them properly as they were not knocked down until the 1960s. After that it was matching them to the 1851 census and another wonderful document I have listing where all the people lived in this community and hey presto - fishermen's cottages mostly inhabited by my ancestors for many years.
I now have both the pictures hanging in the house - courtesy of a scanner and a computer 
Christine
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Rossdal3
RootsChat Veteran
Posts: 820
The 3 Lions
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Hi Hillsandmoors,
I had my photo taken outside the house that my Gt Gt Grandmother's brother, Fred lived in in the late 1800s, when I was in England last year. I had been told about it by several "cousins" in the USA. I found his Granddaughter, who is now a spritely 90 year old, lived a few streets away and went to visit her. SHe loved the fact that so many generations down and no matter where they had scattered, still felt connected to the family.
The current owners of the house were lovely and very used to "cousins" from all over the world visiting their house and having pictures taken in this same doorway. It has now become the thing to do in our family and I have managed to get 7 photos of different people over the ages and one of Fred himself all standing in that doorway, which I made into a collage. I'm over in England again in January and my Granddaughter will be the next generation to have her photo taken there.
This kind of thing makes genealogy such a satisfying hobby.
regards,
Jill
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Holdsworth
Hardisty
Holmes
Craven
Gaunt
Brock
Wedgeworth
From: Bradford, Pudsey, Idle, Calverley & Norfolk
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Finder
RootsChat Member
Posts: 148
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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I found the house my mother was born in after a very long search, fortunately the street is of historical significance & the house is still there, she was too young to remember the house in any detail & quite thrilled when I showed her the photo of it
James
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gazania
RootsChat Senior
Posts: 372
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Some years ago I visited the home/street where my grandfather's family lived. Just as I was about to take a photo, I noticed a neighbourhood watch sign. So I knocked on the door to advise the occupant that I was not casing the joint but interested in taking a photo for the family album back in OZ. I was very much welcomed to come inside and have a cuppa and take as many photos as I liked. I was told a lot of the history of the house and what still remained when my family lived there and of course the later renovations. (The house was by now two small apartments)
As a way of thanking the occupants I sent them some photos of them sitting inside the house. In turn the husband who was an art teacher, sent me a lovely sketch of the house and street. It was a lovely experience.
In another wonderful experience, I finally located in small Yorkshire village the farm where my family had originated but of course I did not know the names of the present occupants. On an earlier visit some years before, I had taken photos of most of the houses (not many). By now unable to visit the UK again, I found a name and an address of a household. I sent the occupants copies of the photos, cost of return postage and asked could they identify a photo of the family farm house. They promptly replied identifying all the photos, but "mine" was not one as it was set back behind trees. They included photos of the house, as much history as they could gather where my family name was mentioned, stories from the present occupants who turned out to be their close neighbours. I just wish I could repay these kind people for their thoughtful actions. Gazania
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ALDERMAN, Bucks
CARLING, Bedfordshire
CUNDITH,CUNDILL, Yorkshire
FOX, Essex
LANE, Clifton, Bristol
VOLLER, Surrey
WAREHAM, Esher, Surrey
WINCH, Surrey
ARMSTRONG, Hawick ROX, Canonbie, Hutton & Corrie, Wamphray, DFS
LAWSON, Canonbie, DFS
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hillsandmoors
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 44
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Some great stories, good to hear how helpful people are too.
Here's the story of my favourite house search: My aunt told me that my grandmother used to visit a relative in a north yorkshire village (Bulmer) for her holidays as a child. She also found a very old photograph of a cottage-and all it said on the back was 'just a little picture of the dear old house', no other info so we had no solid idea where this old house was. While doing the family tree, I discovered a branch of the family that had lived in Bulmer so we visited the village and I tried to figure out which house they lived in based on the order on the census (no name was given for the house). I narrowed it down to 3 houses and took pictures. After this my aunt send me a copy of the old cottage pic and I could identify it as one of the 3 Bulmer houses! It hadn't changed much at all in about 80 years.
It turned out that the cottage was part of the Castle Howard estate and my great grandfather lived there and worked as a cabinet maker. When I visited Castle Howard itself, they had a William Morris exhibition at the time and various account books were displayed showing how much various William Morris wallpapers cost as well as other costings. One of the open pages in the display had my great great grandfather's name and some details about some furniture he had made for the house! I felt very lucky that day. It also tied in with some family rumours that a relative had done some wood carving work at Castle Howard.
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akanex2
RootsChat Senior
Posts: 279
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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Here in Northern Ireland we often look with envy at the fantastic resource of complete C19th census returns available for the rest of the UK, while our pre 1901 returns are limited to a patchy collection covering only 1831, 1841 and 1851 which is [very] largely incomplete. 
This is one area, however, where our luck is in. In completing a rating revaluation in the 1850s (called Griffith's Valuation after the Surveyor General in charge), the government compiled a fantastic database of every householder (occupier or owner) in the country with descriptions and valuations of the buildings and lands on which they would pay rates. The best bit is they linked this to a series of very detailed maps, so once you've found your family's cottage/castle in the index you can look at it on the map showing building layouts, field boundaries, the works. All fully searchable online (for free) - and you can even fade in a modern roadmap on top of the 1850s original so you can go there yourself and see the exact spot!
Many of the old houses have been replaced, many others demolished leaving no trace, but I have found the exact spot in the corner of a barley field where my gt gt gt grandparents lived even though no living relative can ever remember a house standing on that spot. On another side of the family, I was able to tell my uncle (the current owner of a farm held in the family for generations) that our direct ancestors lived in a house where he now has a barn - while the current location of his farmhouse was occupied by a small cottage where a maiden aunt lived over 160 years ago. I have a photo of my gt gt grandfather outside the old farmhouse - and now I know the exact spot it was taken. I could go on...
Check it out for yourselves at http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml
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Les de B
RootsChat Veteran
Posts: 803
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Looking for ancestral homes is one of my favourite parts of family researching. I have many photo's of ancestral homes contained in my individual ancestors' records - it gives their story a bit of "blood and bone".
Yes, I must admit, that sometimes a current house owner my be seen watching me when I've been taking photo's, but once I explain the reason, they are usually very interested in the house's history. On one occasion I was taking photo's of an old terrace house in Sydney, which was owned by my wife's ancestor over 100 years ago. As I was taking the photo's I noticed 2 ladies drinking coffee opposite, and watching me. I explained my reasons, and one of the ladies identified herself as the current owner.
She was somewhat taken aback when I informed her that the ancestor had committed suicide by shooting himself in the house in the 1890's. The new owner lived alone, and was now worried about its "shaded" history, and ghosts(?), while her neigbour friend thought it was a great story.
Discretion got the better part of me, so I didn't tell the new owner that the ancestor actually shot himself in her current bedroom! I don't think she would ever sleep there again if she knew that 
Les
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de Belin, Swindail, Willcock, Williams, Moore, Watts, Searjeant, Watson, McCready, Reid, Spink, de Lancey, Van Cortland, and of course, Smith!
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hillsandmoors
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 44
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She was somewhat taken aback when I informed her that the ancestor had committed suicide by shooting himself in the house in the 1890's. The new owner lived alone, and was now worried about its "shaded" history, and ghosts(?), while her neigbour friend thought it was a great story.
Oh, no Les de B, I would hate to find out someone killed themself in my house, would be petrified! We live in an old house anyway and one night while in bed I was woken up by a deep voice saying hello and thought I saw a dark shadow at the end of my bed!
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liverbird09
RootsChat Member
Posts: 233
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We found a large old unoccupied house on our recent visit to Penzance, where my ancestors had lived in c1861.
It was in a quiet road and we were busy taking lots of pics. A man appeared and asked if we were going to buy the property, so we explained why we were there.
To our surprise, he told us he had rented one of the rooms a few years previously and was able to give us a vivid description of the interior, he added that it was a fascinating old place, with staircases leading off to lots of rooms etc.
It was a real "what are the chances of that" moment, as there wasn't a soul about.
I quite often get the feeling we are being drawn to these places but it is not in the least bit spooky, on the contrary, I find it very comforting.
Jean
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