Poll: Have you discovered an ancestral home?

Poll: Have you discovered an ancestral home?

Census records are a fantastic tool.

However, the details in the records leave much to the imagination. That is – of course – until you investigate the address listed on the census entry.

It’s the part of the puzzle that brings context to the lives of our ancestors. The type of house, the bedroom-to-inhabitant ratio, the local area and surrounding industry – these are all fascinating elements that help us visualise our ancestors’  lives.

Recently, I had the opportunity to visit a not-too-distant home that was shared among a few generations on my maternal side. Lavish, it wasn’t; however, the insight into their lifestyle was a humbling experience.

Let us know in the poll below if you’ve visited any ancestral homes. Alternatively, please leave a comment below.



Comments

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  • Sylvia Brunger

    January 31, 2012

    Barham Manor in Kent on my ex-husband’s side of family. Prior to being given to William Middleton, Lord of the Admirality. Last Lord Barham went to Virginia US. Name carried on by female members in UK, who married into poor (at that time) Brunger family. Laterally seen Brunger House in Tenterden, Kent which looks very nice and was on market last year.

  • Steve Howe

    January 31, 2012

    The Wayside Inn, in Sudbury, MA I have been back to visit many time, it was a gold mine of imformation.

  • Ros Bott – Tracing Ancestors in the UK

    January 31, 2012

    My great-great grandfather John Walker Bott was a builder. Twice on the census the house he was living in was named “Bott’s Buildings” – presumably built by him. Sadly, I think these have been cleared to make way for Birmingham dual carriageways.

    I do have a nice photo of a terraced house in Manchester where his son, John Bott lived.

  • renee atkins

    January 31, 2012

    My ancestor Robert Rigbywas out poaching being a poor man andillerate money was tight and he poached to put food on the Table. on one of his expiditions he saved the life of a boy who was drowning who was the son of The Lord of the manor who rewarded him by deeding a house called The Beechs Chester Rd Hartford Chester. He was often brought before the magistrates one of whom swindled him out of his property.Robert would shout out in court that it was th magistrate who the theif because he had stole his home. he received a small fine and was bvundled out of the court to shut him up he never retreived his house.

  • J Tiffin

    January 31, 2012

    The most moving for me to date was Penrith Workhouse Cumbria or whats left of it where my relative was put once her sister had died and she was left on her own. The date she entered and each individual day she was there until she died 7 years later are all recorded and seeing her name in the register was very moving.

  • Ted Holmes

    January 31, 2012

    My late wife’s maternal lineage included John Gold the Crusader, born about 1195. He was awarded an estate at Seaborough in Somersetshire. We visited there 21 years ago. The existing manor house was built after John’s time and parts of it have been taken away, so it’s about a third of its original size. John’s effigy is displayed in the adjacent church building. It is alleged to have originally been displayed outside the building but was moved to protect it from vandalism during the Cromwell administration, when the family remained loyal to the crown.

  • Vlasta Knapic

    January 31, 2012

    Recently I have heart about big efforts of João Crisóstomo, Portuguese in New York, to keep running the foundation for preservation and reconstruction of home of great humanitarian, ARISTIDES DE SOUSA MENDES, who saved over 30.000 people during II. World war, giving them visas to escape from holocaust. His home, ‘CASA DO PASSAL’ stands as a reminder of the act of heroism by this great man, of whom Portugal can so rightly be proud. It has been designated as a National Monument and belongs to all mankind, but there is a big threat, that it will continue its sad history and collapse…

    Aristides de Sousa Mendes had big family with 14 children. It would be very interesting to hear about their family tree. His descendants were former refugees, since the Portuguese regime (Salazar) already during the 1941 dishonored and disgraced the diplomat Sousa Mendes. His grandsons, along with friends from all around the world, continue honouring the memory of this great humanitarian and try to preserve his home working as the Fundação Aristides de Sousa Mendes, which owns this edifice.

    See about the diplomate:

    and about the status of his home “RuinArt”:

  • Jody Weems

    February 4, 2012

    My husband had a dowry document for his grandmother, who had lived in a small town in Sicily when she married. When we went to Italy, I insisted that we go to Sicily to the town where they had lived before they departed for America 99 years before. It was in a small town called Palazzo Adriano, and we managed, with the help of the local Historical Society, to track their house down, even though the name of the street had been changed. It was a very emotional moment for my husband – who has never forgotten it, and he was able to send photos of the house and the town to other family members. That connection to the past is an important component of his life. You just don’t know how much it will mean to you until you experience it.

  • Ann M. VanNostrand

    February 11, 2012

    The Dana and Deleissegues Adobes in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties, California

  • Shabana

    March 19, 2012

    I absolutely bveiele that! My granddaughter craves those stories. My daughters do too, which is why I love telling them and I’m writing them down too. This is the legacy I will leave my family, especially since I can’t leave them money! LOLThanks for your comment.

  • Mary Harris-Keeler

    January 9, 2013

    It is so important to honor those who came before us. All our ancestors molded who we are, there’s a little of each of them in us. I was so excited when I found the Harris Family Ancestral Home in Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex, England. It’s called Creeksea Manor. It has, in my opinion, a grand history. Today, it is privately owned, and the owners lease it out for elegant weddings and meetings. I would love to visit some day and walk on the Harris Lands. Maybe, I could spend the night there in my grandfathers home.