Picturing our ancestors lives.

[jbml]

I think that "trying to picture their lives" is what it iss all about, ultimately.

Visiting the places they would have been, walking the streets they would have walked, standing before the altar where they were married and the font where their children were baptised.

Sometimes you get a lot out of a site visit, sometimes little or nothing. But until you actually visit the locus in quo, you'll never know.

And sometimes, having seen it, you'll be able to make sense of details or throwaway coments which otherwise would mean nothing to you.

Then there are the unexpected finds ... the plaque on the wall of the church in Great Staughton, for instance, recording the deaths of three men in the tower in a lightning strike. Wewre these men known to my ancestors? Were they their freiends, drinking companions, childhood playmates? Or were they their sworn and bitter enemies?

It all adds to our picture of their lives ...

[Treetotal]

Yes I agree...I went to St. John's, Newfoundland where my Father was born and met cousins and also visited many places where my ancestors had lived and found this lovely hand made picture with all the names of the Families associated with the church where my Grandpa was baptised and my Great Grandparents were married. I also took this photo of the house in Springdale Street where my Father was born.
Carol

[clairec666]

Then there are the unexpected finds ... the plaque on the wall of the church in Great Staughton, for instance, recording the deaths of three men in the tower in a lightning strike. Wewre these men known to my ancestors? Were they their freiends, drinking companions, childhood playmates? Or were they their sworn and bitter enemies?

Visiting the places where our ancestors lived often throws up as many questions as it does answers!

[jaybelnz]

From my 2 New Cumnock Ayrshire grandparents lines, I have a lot of Coal Miners dying from pulmonary diseases, or died in Coal Mining  accidents.   The women however, pretty much lived well into their 80's or longer?  Such strong women, huge families, living in small miners row cottages, and knowing the the coal mining would likely get their husband, their relatives and friends, or their own children - one day and one way or another!  Yet the women seem to have weathered the storms, and most lived to a ripe old age.

The saddest death I have is a child who died at just 5 months old, from an overdose of medication - the death cert said he had measles.

[pharmaT]

I have a death certificate for a child that says exhaustion due to whooping cough .  Poor little thing. 

My family seem to have died really young e.g. my 2xgrt gran fell down a well and another 2x grt grand had TB or lived to a good age, I don't seem to have many with medium length life spans for some reason.

Last year I visited the Fort where my 3x grt grandfather was the surgeon, it felt strange standing in what had been the old infirmary thinking that he had worked there.

[pinefamily]

I stood in the front bar of a hotel that my great grandmother had the licence for back in 1912. That's my excuse anyway. 
Seriously though, the manager was really good when I showed him the photos of it back then. He worked out which window was which, even though it had been extensively remodelled.

[clairec666]

I stood in the front bar of a hotel that my great grandmother had the licence for back in 1912. That's my excuse anyway. 

It's always good to see a family pub appear in previous generations..... the excuse to pay it a visit, of course, and you're more likely to find an exact location for it, unlike a lot of village ancestors whose address is "Cottage, Street".

I was pleased to find the Shoulder Of Mutton pub in Assington, Suffolk (belonging to my ancestor Charles Godden) was still open. Though no longer doubling as a butcher's shop and slaughterhouse, as it did in Charles's day!

[pinefamily]

Family lore has it that after closing time, they served drinks in the stables, while someone stood look out for the constable on his horse. It was rather remote back then.

[sallyyorks]

Many of my ancestors were mill workers from Yorkshire and Lancashire and coal miners from Lancashire and Wales, also some metal workers from Birmingham. Most of the housing they lived in was pulled down in the slum clearances after the war but you can still find some old photos online on local history sites.

Some Birmingham streets where my ancestors lived