Genealogy Chat

Im thinking of great great grandparents or further back. How did you feel? Did you get to go inside? Would you like to live there?

I have had lunch at the pub that my great-great grandfather ran in the 1870 and 1880s. It has been much modernised of course, but you can see the 'bones' of the original building. It was a weird feeling, especially as I was meeting up with a fourth cousin. I have looked for some other houses, but they have been replaced by businesses or blocks of flats. A few yet to track down, but they are on my to-do list I have also been to see the house my great-grandfather built in 1898. Now, this one I would love to live in - Dad says each of his sons had his own room, (and there was 5 sons, plus the daughters) so it is a big house. After their father died, my dad says the boys used to ride their bikes (motor-bikes) up and down the long hall !!! The mind boggles. Di

Thats really interesting! Falkirkbairn, how eerie. Good for you to see the place, but very chilling.

I'm really excited about visiting Chew Magna in September where I'm going to see the School House where my great great great great great grandfather was the school master. Apparently his name is above the door. That shouldbe cool! :)

We have gone to see several houses that some of our ancestors lived in in the late 1800's and taken photos, but never managed to go inside any of them. Also visited the farm my husband's ancestors farmed from the 1840's and managed to get photos of an old farm building that the owners thought might have been the original farmhouse (there is now a new farmhouse of course). We managed to find an 11 page A3 tenancy agreement signed by hubby's ancestor and the landowner who was the Right Honourable Countess of Newburgh. Kath. x

Took OH's cousin to the pub where her Dad grew up also went to a village where another bit of the family go back hundreds of years & there's even a road named after them - lovely & weird

Well thats certainly a result, ladies!! Definately a worthwhile trip then. We've been to the pub my husbands great great grandad used to drink in, although his farm cottage has sadly been knocked down. We visited the cemetery where absolutely masses of his ancestors between 1880-1960 were buried. One lady died in childbirth in 1880, leaving 5 small children aged 1-5! Picturing her poor family in the funeral procession walking up the windy, dark path was so sad. We've also been to Priors Hardwick church, where an ancestor donated the tower clock.

Went to where my dad was born but all that was left was a building site...been back twice and taken pictures of the progress...stood where the front door would have been and got a wierd feeling that my dad had stood exactly where I had...so basically have a picture of me with a steel fence at the back!! I did however pinch a few bricks that I have distributed to the family..my arms were swinging on the floor by the end of the day cos had to trail from Salford to Horwich with them..should have taken a trolley..my brick is in the garden with some of my dads ashes underneath at the base of a plant he lifted for me a week before he died and I call it `the Jimmy plant` after him... Wanda xxx

Wandering around Canterbury a while back I suddenly found myself in an old cobbled street familiar from the census. I walked along and stopped outside the one my gg grandfather lived in 1861. It was up for sale and Iwas tempted to knock but couldnt pluck up the courage. Srood for ages just staring at it. When I got home I googled the estate agents - they described it as “a unique period town house”, grade II listed building dating from c1835 with “magnificent catherderal views”. If only wed kept it in the family. Jacqui

By the 1861 census, my family in a little Herefordshire village, are recorded at a certain house. Each census since records descendants or branches of the same family still living there and even today there is someone of the same family and surname. When we visited the area we asked if it would be alright to take photos....chap was in the garden... so that was good and his wife came out to speak too.We later sent Christmas cards and had a couple of phone conversations, when they helped with my tree. When we next visited the village we phoned to say that we would be in the area and were invited to visit and had Sunday tea with the couple. To sit in the room, where countless family members had sat, had meals and shared their joys and sorrows was very special to me. The quarry stone tile floor would have been trodden on by many of the farm labourers returning from the fields and scrubbed clean by generations of the women folk. It was like returning 'home' and I will never forget the kindness of 2 people who started off as strangers....although very distantly related. Gwyn

I was driving around the surrey/hampshire area as that was where most of my anxestors hailed from. One of their old houses has been turned into appartments so I took a photo of it complete with it's huge drive - I can now appreciate from the census returns why so many of the different strands of family had taken up residence there! I also returned to a family house in a small village in hampshire which I had often visited as a child and which had been in the family since the early 1800s until being sold in the 1980s. I was going to take a photo from the road but my OH thought that we should go and knock and ask permission. Well I'm so glad I did. The new owners couldn't have been more welcoming (I did give them some very accurate info about the previous owners so they knew I was genuine) but the most amazing thing was that they had found some photos going back to 1863 of my ancestors at the house and of one from around 1913 which showed two little girls in front of the house and who they were on the back. This photo for me was complete gold dust as one of the little girls had often been spoken of with great fondness by an elderly relative (the other little girl in the photo) but nobody knew anything about her as she had been born in 1908 and died in 1923. The wonderful thing was that the owners gave me the photos after taking scanning them so that a record could be kept with the house. Take the plunge knock on door of an ancestors house the owneres can only say no and if one is up for sale go and be a prospective buyer. Bo

I found the address of a very grand sounding house from the will of my Great Grandmother. Tried googling and with additional help from someone on here (many thanks) located it on an estate agents web site. I wrote, enclosing a self addresed envelope and a copy of the will, asking for any information, but never received a reply. Suppose the agents may have thrown the letter if it hadn't been sold, so I might try again some time. Writing this, it occurs to me that it would be worth while googling addresses every so often, in case they have come on to the market recently. At least I have the photo and description now!

My family originated in the Cotswolds and the family lived there for many generations. Although I never even knew of them, the last one died there in 1986. So a couple of years ago we went and visited the village in Worcestershire, and it was beautiful!! We managed to get hold of a picture of the house the last relative lived in, but I daresay the rest would have been old cottages. We saw the school and the church they had married and been christened in. The whole experience bought my rellies alive. Its worth a visit if you possibly can to see where we originated. Lynda

I recently discovered a branch of my family that are local to where I live. My children are getting a wee bit fed up as I do have to go the longway round to get anywhere now so I can just have another peek. I was so excited when I discovered my Gt. Gt. Grandfather was a 10 yr. old apprentice farrier not 200yds from my front door. The local historian was a mine of info. and they love to share. I have another branch, where the farm ( what is left of it ) is owned by the National Trust.

My 2x great grandfather ran a cabinet making/ecclesiastical woodcarving business in my local town. His workshop used to be out the back and is gone but the tiny house where the family (12 children!) lived is now an estate agent's office. A couple of years ago we popped in there and mentioned it and the staff kindly let us have a quick look at the little rooms. I suppose some of the older children moved out while the youngest were small but I can't imagine how they survived in such cramped living conditions. Sue

I went to the house where my great grandfather and his brothers were all born in Dalston,Hackney. i drove up and down the road searching for the house. they lived at number 159 as i got further down the road i saw 155,157, a sliproad then 161. HOW IRRITATING. the only road in the house i wanted was the very one that had been knocked down. Leanne

My Wife & I visited a 16th C thatched cottage at Easter. It was the home in 1841 & 1851 of my wife's ancestors. We were invited in and made welcome. My wife said she felt at peace there. Ken

Not a house as such, but I went researching my family tree in the Sedbergh area and stayed overnight at a pub called the Dalesman on the main street. I only found out after I came back that my 4th great grandfather Abraham Nowell had lived there and managed it when it was called The Golden Lion Inn. I have pictures of how it used to be and the restoration and of course how it looks now. We have stayed there a couple of times since, well recommended but it seems really weird as it still has all the old stone walls inside and you just think to yourself 'my grandparents saw these walls in the early 1800's' if you know what I mean. It is also one of the best B & B's I have stayed in, and we have stayed in many whilst searching these parish records. Also another grandparent owned the town end area of Sedbergh and the school in the 1600's, so it was interesting taking pictures of that and I have the school minutes of meetings. This is the only rich family I have and somewhere along the way all the pennies got lost, the rest of my ancestors all worked in cotton mills etc. LOL Marilyn

What lovely stories, we should compile a book, lol. Sue, its amazing how very large families lived in tiny homes isnt it. Im very fond of Humble Bee cottages in south Warwickshire, they had a living room, TINY kitchen, no running water, and only 1 bedroom. On the 1901 census, a family with 9 children were there, the cottages are now derilict (apart from one, good condition but uninhabited). One couple moved there in 1842 after they married and were still there in 1901, in their 80s!

Not been that lucky to find any house my lot lived in still standing as from the 1850 onwards they all lived in London and the blitz destrpyed them. I did find out who was living in the house I was born in, now sadly gone, in 1901. Its strange how many different routes we can go down within this hobby, I did manage to find a photo of the house my grandfather was born in, but again, now gone. Oh well....... Kathlyn