Have you visited the Family Home ?

[Mobo]

 

My ancestors the 'Williamsons' had a Grocer shop on Chapel Street, Salford, between 1760-1880, and this is an old print of it's location.  Sadly, the site is an office block today.

However, their church, Sacred Trinity, still stands on the opposite side of the street, a lot cleaner these days, after a sand-blasting job.   Although the gravestones have long-since gone, there is a plaque on the wall commemorating my gt.gt grandfather, John Whittaker Williamson, (Church Warden), and a pew dedicated to William Williamson, his grandfather.

I can tell you, it was very strange experience sitting in that pew in that church, trying to imagine all those Williamsons who'd gone before.

 

 

[Candolim_Imp]

I have photographed many of the homes from the outside of my Southport ancestors, as my family are still in the area (and have been since at least the 1380's)... but best of all... the home my grandmother's family rented from around 1870-80 (I think they moved in when it was first built) was still in the family until the 1980's. I remember going there at Christmas time in the 70's... if only I'd been old enough to appreciate the history of it at the time... 5 generations of Hulms/descendants have been in that house.

[BarryBear]

I've yet to find any actual houses the ancestors lived in
Been through the various Hertfordshire and Essex villages to get the feel of them, but 'cos they never bothered putting proper addresses in censuses, I've only been as near as the roads they stood in.
I went to the village of Charlton in Herts last year where my Mum's parents lived and where she was born. I couldnt find the house but had a drink in the only pub there, so I'm sure my Grandad stood in the same spot at some time. That was a nice feeling. When the weather gets nicer, I'll be out on the bike looking around the Surrey villages and maybe with more luck

[M.Evans]

I visited my ancestors home in Blewbury (Berks) it was great to see such a lovely house still being lived in.
In the 1841 census my grandfather x5 had a bakery and my grandfather x4 was a fruiterer. I could just imagine how it must have looked so long ago.
Most of the other places I have visited have long since changed beyond recognition.

[Keith Sherwood]

About three years ago I got in contact with the present owners of the house where my mother's family lived for at least 300 years (and maybe more) in the village of Ickleton in Cambs.  My mother and I were invited there, and we spent an amazing time being shown round the 15th C. (some parts) Lodge house that had been in the family where they had been tenant farmers in the village between the 16th C. until the turn of the 19th/20th C.
As we stood in the front room looking onto the street I imagined our ancestor Sarah sewing her sampler (begun in 1768) in the window straining to catch the light as maybe the day faded.  Also the room where Thomas the watchmaker had his workshop.  Some of the wooden panels were from Audley End House, salvaged after a bad fire in the 17th C., I believe.  Inventories of the rooms which I have copies of from the 17thC. told us that the lay-out of the house has not changed much over the years, apart from the house being divided into two separate dwellings for a while.
Though Saxon Lodge has long passed out of our family, the present owners have lovingly restored it when at one time it was apparently in danger of falling into disrepair, and it was a wonderful few hours we spent surrounded by the ghosts of our family past...
Keith

[geniedi]

When I started researching only just over 4 years ago I didn't know my gt.grandparents names or anything.

After a bit of information from a relative I eventually found that my paternal line ones had lived in a street only a few turnings up from where my husbands parents lived for over 40 years until their deaths.

They were buried in the same graveyard as my parents in law.

A few weeks ago I visited three of my childhood homes, all within about 10 minutes of each other!

Isn't it strange how you remember things. Everything seemed so much bigger.

All the roads and turnings were tiny to how I rememberd them. I took photos to include in my tree.

[Tariana]

"The family home" which family? lol
On my father's side. No. My grandfather was adopted. Born in Indiana, USA. My Grandmother is from Georgia, USA. I'm still waiting on the family history from my aunt.
On my mother's side. Her mother's side - no. Never met any of them.  Her mother's father's side, I've been in the general location he grew up in, and we've stopped by the family cemetary site. Although I never bothered to get out of the car.
My mom's side hails from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, England, Holland? (dutch), Germany, Sweden, and some others. I've never set food outside the US, except for a few hours in Canada.  I'm also supposedly part Native American, so I guess I may have set foot in the same area as an acestor. I don't know.

[Paul E]

Just this week I was in Durham visiting my mum (or, more correctly, 'mam' and went to the village of Piercebridge where an ancestor kept a Post Office in the 1850's.
It's still there, and I hoped to speak to the present owners.

Unfortunately, I picked the day they were undergoing alterations, so the building was closed up just on Wednesday!

Paul

[XPhile2868]

I havent visited any ancestral root places outside of Lancashire yet, but i know of a cottage in Ashfield-Cum-Thorpe, Suffolk, where my Clark ancestors lived in the mid-19th Century. Its called Cook's Cottage, but i dont know if its still there.