Visiting your ancestral towns and places

[kylejustin]

A few years back my father's cousin, who is an archaeologist, was working in england and took a holiday to scotland. She wanted to know where we came from, and saw lochalsh and surrounds and drove down to where you could catch the ferries to see iona. She had some great photos and it eould be great to do that trip myself. Scottish highlands seem stunning in pictures.

i learned this week that one of my emmigrant french ancestors that lived in bretagne prior, and was believed to be from bretagne, is in fact from bourgogne. An hr from dijon. Was googling the area and the architecture looks beautiful. Will have to add it to the list of areas of france to explore.

[yummy-mummy-amy]

ive been to a few over the years, i found the house my 2x grt grandparents (and all their 12 children) lived in,

[Nelde]

My father, in his retirement, loved to travel from Canada and visit the village where his mother grew up. He would go back every two or three years and would take one of his children with him. I got to go with him in the late 80s. I got the impression that the phone tree was very busy after his first stop. "ACK Watch out that old man is back in town" Poor Mrs. Whistler would tell him at each visit that NO she was not related, NO she did not remember any of the people. Grandmother's village was outside Reading. One time Dad was staying at a pub in Pamber (?). The owner discovered Dad's last name, mentioned he had a number of deeds from the 1890s with that name on it and gave them to Dad. Dad's great aunt Mary. I married an Englishman so we made trips back quite frequently and usually I get a day to search the local records or drive around the old villages. We have wandered many a churchyard and found it interesting that the gravestones around Wantage were very eaten away while the gravestones around Silchester were in much better condition. Over the thirty years of visiting the home villages there has been so much change. Silchester and Grove appears to be modern bedroom communities to some big city. So I am glad I got to visit them before they grew into the 21st century. Dad also dragged us to the farming town in Alberta where he was born. My turn was in "87" . He was able to show his grandchildren the old homestead with some of the outbuildings built by his dad and still in use after eighty years. In years to come my children will not be able to show my grands where their Nany grew up. My childhood home is long gone and now a four story apartment block and the nearby fields are a Skytrain station surrounded by 40 story skyscrapers. I did discover on my recent trip back to there that the city has named one of the short alleys between the skyscrapers after my family. And on a side note about poor Mrs. Whistler, while searching up the line of my grandmother, I discovered she had a distant cousin who came to Canada shortly before her. I found them in a town fifty miles away from where my grandmother and family settled after leaving the wilds of Alberta. They were Whistlers. I wondered if Grandmother ever visited them. Maybe Dad's fixation on Mrs. Whistler in Silchester is the proof that Grandmother had told him of her cousin.

[PhotoFamily]

I know from family lore that my paternal grandmother sent packages to cousins in England in the time during and/or after WWII. I would love to know more about those cousins, and see if they have any surviving records. All most
certainly they were on the Devon ancestral line.

I benefited from a cousin in Australia who returned letters written by my paternal g'grandmother to cousins living in Australia. Those letters told me where to find a line that had emigrated to Canada.

My father's four grandparents had four different birthplaces, many of whom had parents who were born in yet other different places -> lots of places of genealogical interest! Plus similar diversity for my mother's line.

[Gwyn in Kent]

My Herefordshire ancestors can be traced back to the small village of Ullingswick and a burial there in 1777 and I know they were probably there or in surrounding villages before that.
Visiting the area, we found the farmhouse where members of the family had lived since 1861 census and knocked on the door to ask permission to take photographs.
The elderly couple were very chatty and told us a few names of people, who had moved away to other areas. They also said that if we were in that area again, we should please let them know and visit again.
The man was my distant relative and had been born in that house in 1916.
In his whole life he only spent 3 nights away from there..... 2 when he went on honeymoon to South Wales and one night when fog prevented him getting home when he had visted someone in hospital.
Imagine my delight, when a few months later we saw them again and were invited to afternoon tea.
Talk about a step back in time...It was wonderful.
A big old fashioned range was used to boil the kettle and the lady had made a delicious Victoria sponge.
We sat in the main living room / kitchen and I wondered how many of my female ancestors had scrubbed those old quarry tiles, after the menfolk had trudged in with their muddy boots from the fields.

[cbcarolyn]

The man was my distant relative and had been born in that house in 1916.
In his whole life he only spent 3 nights away from there..... 2 when he went on honeymoon to South Wales and one night when fog prevented him getting home when he had visted someone in hospital.
Imagine my delight, when a few months later we saw them again and were invited to afternoon tea.
Talk about a step back in time...It was wonderful.
A big old fashioned range was used to boil the kettle and the lady had made a delicious Victoria sponge.
We sat in the main living room / kitchen and I wondered how many of my female ancestors had scrubbed those old quarry tiles, after the menfolk had trudged in with their muddy boots from the fields.

Wow - a proper local!

[GallowayLass]

Lovely new family memories there.

[vera2013]

Grandparents and G/Grandparents mostly Scotland. Renfrew, Midlothian, Inverness, Aberdeen and Moray. Have been to some areas but prior to beginning research. One section Co Armagh but not sure where. All my line ended up in the North East where they ended their days. Maybe one day I will go back to NE and walk their paths

Vera

[Lin Fisher]

Some lovely tales. So nice when you can visit where your ancestors were.

[Janet in Yorkshire]

Grandparents and G/Grandparents mostly Scotland. Renfrew, Midlothian, Inverness, Aberdeen and Moray. Have been to some areas but prior to beginning research. One section Co Armagh but not sure where. All my line ended up in the North East where they ended their days. Maybe one day I will go back to NE and walk their paths

Vera

I'll join you Vera, on the trail of my Irish lot. However, whilst the settlements may remain, I fear there won't be much evidence of where they actually walked or of how they spent their daily lives.

[vera2013]

I'll join you Vera, on the trail of my Irish lot. However, whilst the settlements may remain, I fear there won't be much evidence of where they actually walked or of how they spent their daily lives.

No probably not Jay but this inspires me to add some stories/pictures to my tree. Otherwise great nieces and nephews will find it very bland. Sadly have very few photographs.

Vera

[Janet in Yorkshire]

No probably not Jay but this inspires me to add some stories/pictures to my tree. Otherwise great nieces and nephews will find it very bland. Sadly have very few photographs.

Vera

Are you familiar with this source, Vera?
https://communities.northumberland.g...ommunities.htm

I've found it very useful for pictures and maps, especially of Blyth, where my Irish lot settled and where my father was born. Found a map on there which showed the location of the school he attended and was delighted to see a line across the playground. In some notes he wrote, he referred to his elder sister taking him to school every day and dropping him off at the infant playground, before making her way to her playground which was on the other side of "the wall."

[Macbev]

My paternal gf came from Rathmore, Co Kerry and I've visited there twice, meeting up with a cousin several times removed. True Irish hospitality made our visits very special, especially enjoying the 'craic' in the local pubs.
My maternal gf came from Bristol and we looked for his birth place (and got shouted at by a large fellow for taking photos outside). The cousin who took me there said he was probably a drug dealer and we would do well to move on. Also visited Box and Christian Malford, where the family line lived before moving to Bristol.
OH's people were Scottish, so we visited Campsie, Glasgow, Johnstone, Ardossan, Saltcoats, in company of another 'cousin' who was a resident of Largs and very happy to tote us around churches, graveyards and other P.O.I. His paternal gf was actually been born near Letterkenny in Donegal, so that had to be visited of course.
OH's maternal gf came from an illustrious family that appeared in the Heralds' visitations. Trekking around after them took us to Beaconsfield in Bucks, Upwey and Frome Billet ( West Stafford) in Dorset and Seaborough in Somerset to view a crusader's tomb. Chasing that family also sent us to Bournemouth, Kensington and Notting Hill to gawp at various genteel homes.
My less genteel Scottish convict (maternal gm's gf) came from Tulliallan in Perthshire and we also visited Dunblane (where he served time in 1851 before being sent to Portsmouth Prison) .
I would like to have seen the Dalquhamie Toll house on the road from Kincardine to Alloa where my convict, after serving half his original sentence and released on parole in 1856, assaulted a 'taxman' and was subsequently transported to the Swan River Colony but we were unable to identify the location on our map.
I would have liked to chase up my gm's maternal line as well, but as that was mainly various army barracks in India and not feasible. Neither am I ever likely to visit Canada, South Africa or the USA where various other family members ended up. However, I am more than grateful to have seen as much as I have, never imagining when I began this hobby it would take me to such a variety of places.

[cbcarolyn]

My paternal gf came from Rathmore, Co Kerry and I've visited there twice, meeting up with a cousin several times removed. True Irish hospitality made our visits very special, especially enjoying the 'craic' in the local pubs.
My maternal gf came from Bristol and we looked for his birth place (and got shouted at by a large fellow for taking photos outside). The cousin who took me there said he was probably a drug dealer and we would do well to move on. Also visited Box and Christian Malford, where the family line lived before moving to Bristol.
OH's people were Scottish, so we visited Campsie, Glasgow, Johnstone, Ardossan, Saltcoats, in company of another 'cousin' who was a resident of Largs and very happy to tote us around churches, graveyards and other P.O.I. His paternal gf was actually been born near Letterkenny in Donegal, so that had to be visited of course.
OH's maternal gf came from an illustrious family that appeared in the Heralds' visitations. Trekking around after them took us to Beaconsfield in Bucks, Upwey and Frome Billet ( West Stafford) in Dorset and Seaborough in Somerset to view a crusader's tomb. Chasing that family also sent us to Bournemouth, Kensington and Notting Hill to gawp at various genteel homes.
My less genteel Scottish convict (maternal gm's gf) came from Tulliallan in Perthshire and we also visited Dunblane (where he served time in 1851 before being sent to Portsmouth Prison) .
I would like to have seen the Dalquhamie Toll house on the road from Kincardine to Alloa where my convict, after serving half his original sentence and released on parole in 1856, assaulted a 'taxman' and was subsequently transported to the Swan River Colony but we were unable to identify the location on our map.
I would have liked to chase up my gm's maternal line as well, but as that was mainly various army barracks in India and not feasible. Neither am I ever likely to visit Canada, South Africa or the USA where various other family members ended up. However, I am more than grateful to have seen as much as I have, never imagining when I began this hobby it would take me to such a variety of places.

wow - you have really been 'about' that's amazing.

[garstonite]

I have been to many - but the strangest was St Werburghs in Dunham Massey - when we got there we were told this is the new church - the old one is down the lane - as we were looking for Abraham Collins b 1750 and his father b 1727 - my direct ancestors we went to the old one - not very big and not a large graveyard - there was a little old man doing voluntary gardening - and he took us to Abraham Collins b 1750 grave - and pointed to another 10 yards away and said there is Abraham Collins b 1727 ...BUT - when we got to the grave of 1727 birth - the next headstone to the right of it was Ann Oakes ..my wifes name - she said she went really cold when she read the name - what a coincidence ....

[vera2013]

Are you familiar with this source, Vera?
https://communities.northumberland.g...ommunities.htm

I've found it very useful for pictures and maps, especially of Blyth, where my Irish lot settled and where my father was born. Found a map on there which showed the location of the school he attended and was delighted to see a line across the playground. In some notes he wrote, he referred to his elder sister taking him to school every day and dropping him off at the infant playground, before making her way to her playground which was on the other side of "the wall."

Thanks Jay. Will check it out for 3rd g/grandmother who was born Morpeth. All other NE ancestors b Tyneside.

It always amazes me the lengths people have gone to research pre online availability. Even with better mobility I doubt I would have done that. I would particularly like to follow the path of my g/grandparents b Armagh, lived in Paisley and Coatbridge


I can't see what I am typing here or editing

Vera

[PhotoFamily]

It always amazes me the lengths people have gone to research pre online availability.
Vera

My great-aunt put together an amazing family tree pre-online records. She didn't make it back to the old country (Donegal and Scotland), but she gathered records from across Canada and into the US. When I was putting her tree into my tree, and verifying what she had done, the records came up over and over proving what she had done. I only had her tree, not the records she had found. I've wondered where her research file went, but apparently the direct descendants don't have it.

[cbcarolyn]

My great-aunt put together an amazing family tree pre-online records. She didn't make it back to the old country (Donegal and Scotland), but she gathered records from across Canada and into the US. When I was putting her tree into my tree, and verifying what she had done, the records came up over and over proving what she had done. I only had her tree, not the records she had found. I've wondered where her research file went, but apparently the direct descendants don't have it.

what a shame that all her hard work was lost.

[PhotoFamily]

what a shame that all her hard work was lost.

The tree still exists I'm not the only one with a copy, and most of the records were easy to uncover using her roadmap, and genetic matches continue to prove the lines that she detailed.

but I wish I knew how she decided the first name of the male progenitor that crossed the ocean :(

I also think she connected with at least one other active researcher, and, uh, she benefited from his research.

[Darksecretz]

My great-aunt put together an amazing family tree pre-online records. She didn't make it back to the old country (Donegal and Scotland), but she gathered records from across Canada and into the US. When I was putting her tree into my tree, and verifying what she had done, the records came up over and over proving what she had done. I only had her tree, not the records she had found. I've wondered where her research file went, but apparently the direct descendants don't have it.

could she have donated them to a family history society/archive type place?