RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: 7igerby7he7ail on Friday 02 September 11 11:42 BST (UK)
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I have just been on a nation wide 'tour' via G****e Street View, looking up old addresses and locations. Some are still standing, others like the place of my birth is now covered by a T***o supermarket.
Anybody else done this?
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I certainly intend to. As part of the website I am building I want to put at least one picture on each person's page of where they lived. If I can't find the actual house now I intend to put a picture of whatever is there now.
Rishile
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Oh yes! I've spent many an hour virtually wandering round streets where my ancestors lived :) Do be aware though that street numbering has sometimes changed over the years, so what might look like the right place could be totally the wrong end of the street!
Another thing to bear in mind is that even quite a grand house in Chelsea that belonged to my family for two generations wasn't solely occupied by my folk, a floor or two would be let out, presumably to help with upkeep costs.
I also use it to get an idea of how far they travelled on each move or how far they had to travel to work etc. It's a fascinating resource :)
Heather
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Yes I am aware of the possibility of numbers changing or even street names changing. I try and research the possible changes before I search on Street View.
I Find things of 'interest' sometimes
The hat shop which my great grandmother ran is now a tattoo parlour.
My grandparents farm in the middle of a town, when in the 19th century it was on the edge.
I have yet to search my wife's ancestral streets.
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I went to visit a village where one of my lot were born and couldn't find the street but asked at a post office and was told that the street had changed name 3 times in its lifetime but was still there so I was able to take a photo of it which was brilliant.
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I looked at the house that I was brought up in near the National Archives in Kew and saw a porter loo in the garden.Obviously great changes were taking place.I wrote to the owners who very kindly sent me pictures of what they were doing to my childhood home.They had extended into the loft lovely fireplaces had been taken out.I was a little sad but one must move forward.
Ringrose
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I've spent a good few hours on Streetview looking up ancestral addresses, including 'revisiting' some of my own previous residences, and those of my grandparents. A real nostalgia trip in those cases!
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Yes I've done it, but mainly looking at houses we've lived in during our married life. The ones my parents and grandparents lived in around Manchester have long since been knocked down, although there are some photos on the Manchester Council photograph site from way back showing the streets they lived in. One was obviously right on the edge of the country in the early 1900s, the area is now totally built up.
I've also visited old addresses in person, and sad to say even if the street is still there, most of the addresses I was looking for have long gone. I did find one in Yarmouth, Norfolk that my g.gran lived in in 1866 - her first child was born there - and when I saw it I was surprised at the size of the house, until I realised like Heather, that she had probably only lived in a part of the house, or even just one room.
Lizzie
Modified - Oops, I didn't mean that Heather only lived in one room, just that like Heather I had realised .....
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I have a photo of my great-grandmother's little corner shop in Wolverhampton, taken around 1916 (dated via Kelly's Directory for the area, plus sons' marriage certificates). Street view shows the building is still there, still a shop, but with one of those awful steel roller shutters down, so must have been 'out of hours'. I plan to go in the flesh one day, during opening hours, and take another photo! (Perhaps with me in the doorway ???)
giraffe
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I did find one in Yarmouth, Norfolk that my g.gran lived in in 1866 - her first child was born there - and when I saw it I was surprised at the size of the house, until I realised like Heather, that she had probably only lived in a part of the house, or even just one room.
Lizzie
Modified - Oops, I didn't mean that Heather only lived in one room, just that like Heather I had realised .....
;D ;D ;D Haha I knew what you meant!
Heather
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I have a photo of my great-grandmother's little corner shop in Wolverhampton, taken around 1916 (dated via Kelly's Directory for the area, plus sons' marriage certificates). Street view shows the building is still there, still a shop, but with one of those awful steel roller shutters down, so must have been 'out of hours'. I plan to go in the flesh one day, during opening hours, and take another photo! (Perhaps with me in the doorway ???)
giraffe
What's the address, girafffe? You never know what I might find!
Cati
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I have trawled in person several addresses in London my ancestors lived at from Walworth to Hackney.
In Holborn the tenement building that my ancestors lived at is still standing today next to St Alban The Martyr Church. One of the minority that still remain and are not replaced by towerblocks, a supermarket or leisure centre.
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I just found the first place I lived in when married !
Tower block in Brum !! ::) NOT my kind of home any more ...
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Cati, It was 69, Nine Elms Lane. On the photo she is standing in the doorway, and you can just see 'Elm House' on the stone lintel over the door. The shop is on the corner of Nine Elms Lane (which is off Cannock Road) and ?Swinton? Road/Street. I posted the picture on Rootschat a long time ago, asking if someone could identify one of the adverts in the shop window, not sure where I posted it, or if I can retrieve the post. Perhaps if I have a root round . . . .
From 'street view' the shop now has an Asian owner according to the sign high up on the wall. Gt grandma was previously the owner of a shop in Crowther Street (Kelly's again), but no photo of that one.
giraffe
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Ah, it's now the Randhawa General Store.
Park Village isn't an area I know paticularly well, or tend to go to. Otherwise I'd have offered to take a photo for you.
One of Dad's family married a girl from Nine Elms Lane - I can't remember for the life of me what her name was - it'll be in my notes somewhere...
Cati
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Hi Cati,
My Price g- grandparents only had 3 boys, and I have the records, Certs, etc., so I doubt if we have any connection. The photo is of Edward Price and his 3 sons.
Interestingly, the 2 younger sons married 2 sisters (Jones) who lived in Woden Road, which leads off Cannock Road a little further along from Nine Elms Lane. Both fathers were railwaymen, which would explain their connection.
Thanks for the thought, and the offer anyway. Most of my other family came from the Ettingshall/Bilston area. I'll be going to 'Wolves' before too long I hope, (if I can persuade my sister to come along).
giraffe.
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Google Street View is great for places I can't get to, but I do like to actually get there in person if I can.
I remember the thrill of seeing the house where my gt grandfather was born - and discovering that it was next door to a pub I'd drunk in on a few occasions without knowing, and that the house was a listed building and now very posh (its on Richmond Green, in London).
I also found the house where my gt grandfather died in Aylesbury - and I know its the original house as it has the date on the front.
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I managed a visit to both sets of my grandparents' houses - both terraced houses, but both had been 'tarted up' with plastic bay windows, whereas the original windows were
ordinary sash windows. I count myself lucky that they hadn't been knocked down - the fate of many old terraces. My gt grandparents' houses were No.1 Court (long gone), then a terraced house which has since been rendered and a porch added, and the third was the shop. I have yet to find the house they last lived in, I think the whole street may have been demolished. Back to the fun of the search - great fun, and it all adds to this great hobby of ours!
giraffe
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I also have been looking at old addresses where I lived, thanks to this thread, but the problem i have found when printing out from G**** is that what gets printed is through the fish eye lens and is thus a bit distorted.
However, it is better than nothing, especially when I am in Australia, and I am looking for places in England.
I don't thing there is a long range lens big enough to do it from here, d*&* :( :(
A Chesters
in Australia
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Does anybody know how to save the picture from Google Maps to a PC? I can Print Preview but I can't seem to save the picture.
Rishile
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I can only suggest press the "PrtSc" button, this will copy the whole page you are viewing to the clipboard, you can then paste it into Word & crop if necessary
pat
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Sorry previous post meant for Rishile ;D
Pat
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Thanks Roopat - I tried that earlier but wasn't able to crop it or save it for some reason. Have found out I can paste it into 'Paint' and work on it there - no problems.
Thanks again
Rishile
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Been to G****** Earth to revisit places I last saw 50 years ago, - Army postings, etc. -- now there's a change! Halfway across the world to where i picked up my "tag". Some are even still military sites. Pity I'm too old to revisit.
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Glad you brought this up, as I have been busy travelling the Streets of England from my safe chair in New Zealand. Much cheaper than a flight I am sure, but would love to afford a trip over to see for myself.
I have found some homes of long lost relations, and some not homes anymore, One of my husbands relations house is now a Chinese take-away :o
Suzy W
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On this theme, have just found a fascinating website:
www.historypin.com
It's a worldwide map that shows photos of places from the past, and in which you can add your own. Just type in a postcode, or address to see what comes up. You can go searching for your own old haunts and see how they looked years ago, and add a current photo of your own. It obviously doesn't have a photo for every single place, but you never know, you could get lucky!
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I tend to combine my Street View wanderings with oldmaps.co.uk. You find the location in question on "oldmaps"at round about the date you're looking for and look to see what's left using google earth/street view - but don't expect to go back before the 1850s!
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Not so old BUT
I checked on my maternal grgrandparents house, which is where my grandparents ended up living. (all deceased now) BUT while doing it I noticed that the house my mum and dad lived in before they divorced was standing ((It was across the road)) which amazed me to no end because I burnt it down when I was a child!!!!!
Obviously I didn't burn it all down as someone has rebuilt it and it looks almost the same as photo's I have (from before I burnt it down)
I didn't burn it on purpose,,,,I was trying to clean it up,,,,(long story)
Bored
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I certainly use it whenever/wherever I can - its such a great asset! Before Google Street Search I had to rely on emailing the local Police Station, church, etc to see if a building was still standing. Naturally, one wouldn't always receive a reply.
I have Windows 7, and use the "Snipping Tool" function on the street photo's when required - so easy.
Les
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I can only suggest press the "PrtSc" button, this will copy the whole page you are viewing to the clipboard, you can then paste it into Word & crop if necessary
pat
No need to make things so complicated. Google Earth has a "Copy Image" facility under the Edit menu after which you can paste it into whichever programme you want.