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Old Photographs, Recognition, Handwriting Deciphering => Handwriting Deciphering & Recognition => Topic started by: Eamann on Wednesday 03 February 10 20:41 GMT (UK)
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Hello!
I’d be very grateful if someone could help me decipher a Redcar street name.
My grandfather, Michael Magee, emigrated from Belfast to Redcar in 1919 and from there to the USA in 1930. I attach a photo of the immigration form he filled in on arriving at Detroit. The quality is not very good and I would be very grateful if someone could decipher for me the address in Redcar where he had been living previously. The address looks like 2, ... Road. The name of the street is short, four or five letters.
In case it might be of use, here is what I know about Michael Magee’s stay in Redcar:
- emigrated from Belfast on 1 Jan. 1919;
- a motor mechanic by trade, worked in Redcar as a bus driver and then in the bus depot in Dormanstown;
- lived with his wife in Brookbank Ave. after arrival from Belfast
- separated from his wife in 1924 and went to live with another woman; presumably he took her with him to America.
Thank you very much for any help you can give!
Éamann Ó Ruairc
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Could it be Limes Road?
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Hi there,
I think it is Lime Road, the road is still there in Redcar too, if you google maps it, it's not far from the sea front :)
Em (who likes to go to Redcar on a summer's day) ;)
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Thank you both very much! "Lime" seems to correspond exactly with the writing. Redcar is small and there cannot be many roads with similar short names.
My next step now will be to try and get a look-up in a street directory to see if I can find the name of the woman my grandfather ran away with!
For the record, he died young in 1954, in Detroit.
Once again, thank you very much for your help! That's another piece of the puzzle in place!
Eamann
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Just pop over to the Yorkshire (North Riding) board if you need any help with Redcar information.
Teesside Archives in Middlesbrough hold all the records for the Redcar area, in case you didn't know.
Contact details on this web page: http://www.middlesbrough.gov.uk/ccm/navigation/leisure-and-culture/archives/
Also Redcar Library might be able to help: http://www.redcar-cleveland.gov.uk/Libraries
Good luck with your searching :)
Em
*EDIT* I've just seen your new thread on the North Riding board and realise I was too late to be helpful and you already know all this, sorry about that!
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Thank you very much all the same!
Best wishes,
Eamann
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Hi, If Limes Road doesnt get you anywhere could it be Ings Road? If so it is still there and is off Redcar Lane, there used to be a farm called Ings Farm also were my great grandparents lived and my maternal grandmother was brought up. Hope this helps
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Hello!
It's very kind of you to take the trouble to reply to my query, but in fact Limes Road is what I was looking for.
Best wishes,
Eamann
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Hi Eamann
From an ex Redcarite - Lime Road (no s on the end), comes out in Laburnum Road at one end and Park Avenue at the other (turn right into Park Avenue takes you to the beach!)
Ceeoh
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The house in question.
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For Hhodgetts and Ceeoh:
Sorry it has taken me so long to reply! Work, work, work!
Hhodgetts: I am very grateful to you for going to the trouble of taking that photo and posting it on the site! The house is not listed in the 1925 Electoral List but appears in that of 1930. Presumably it was built at some time in between those dates. Is number 2 the house with the garden and flowers? You say that it used be a chemist shop but it does not seem outwardly to have changed much since it was built. Once again, many thanks!
Ceeoh: Thanks for that correction and for the additional information about Laburnum Road and Park Avenue. The first time I looked up "Lime Road" in Google Maps I found a street nearer Middlesborough, situated roughly between the A1085 and B1380.
My grandfather Michael Magee was a car mechanic from Belfast. After demobilization he emigrated with his newly-wed wife to Redcar where he worked first as a bus driver and then as a mechanic in the bus depot in Dormanstown. My mother was born in 1924 in Brooksbank Ave.. Shortly after that my grandfather and grandmother separated and she went back to Belfast while Michael stayed on in Redcar with his sweetheart. In 1930 he emigrated to Detroit to work in Ford's. On his immigration papers he gave 2 Lime Road as his last address. In the 1930 Redcar electoral list I found that the residents of 2 Lime Road were listed as: Michael MaGee (sic) and Elizabeth Annie Burgess. I thought that Elizabeth may have been Michael's sweetheart, but I could not find any trace of her emigrating to Canada/America. One day when I find time I will sit down and try and discover who she was.
Once again, thank you both for your help in making my grandfather's stay in Redcar become alive for me!
Eamann
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Is number 2 the house with the garden and flowers?
Yes it is :)
You say that it used be a chemist shop but it does not seem outwardly to have changed much since it was built.
This house was never a chemist. The chemist was further down the road on the opposite side of the street.
Glad to help with the picture. They always make things come to life don't they.
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Hello Hhodgets!
Thank you once again for the photo of the house where my grandfather lived before emigrating to Detroit in 1930.
In the meantime I have made contact with my grandfather's surviving American son who is very glad to have the picture of the house. He still has his father's receipt for the ticket to Detroit via Quebec purchased from Albert Walker, 2 West Terrace.
Best wishes,
Eamann