I have been tracing my family history for years and while we have been in lockdown I have been updating the family history of a couple of friends of mine. I helped them with tracing their families a few years ago and have been updating the records for them as more and more information is available.
It has prompted me to begin updating my family history too and my new years resolution is to update my records and write up the story of various family lines.
I made a start today putting my files and photos in order. At least I have lots of family history so far so don't have to start from scratch. I am just updating my records and stories.
This is the house where my great great great grandfather lived on my mother's side of the family.
Richard was a tailor and lived here at Waterslack in Cawthorne, Yorkshire in the early and mid 1800s with his wife Elizabeth and their 11 children. Sadly two of their children died in childhood and two more in their early 20s.
I believe it is now called Water Slack Farm, but it was just known as Waterslack when Richard and his family lived here.
Obviously I didn't take this photo, it was taken by a distant cousin of mine and he sent this photo to me a few years ago along with photos of the grave headstones of Richard and Elizabeth and some of their children who are buried in the village.
Wow Babs, that will be ever so interesting! What a beautiful home, I take it that it's been renovated? Is it still owned by a family member? No wonder you are always kept so busy ;-)
I think as we get older we become more interested in our roots. Best wishes, Babs, for 2022 and lots of fun researching and telling stories of your family!
@ludwigsdiana Thanks, yes it will have been renovated lots of times since the early 1800s I should imagine.
No it isn't still owned by the family. My distant cousin, also called Richard did knock on the door to speak to the owners but there was nobody home so he just took a few photos and left. I wish he would have left an email address or phone number to be able to get more information, but I think I will write to the current owners and see if I can find out more information from them.
@quietpurplehaze Thanks Hazel. I have been interested in family history for years and have found lots of interesting stories so far and a few skeletons too. I did start writing up the stories a few years ago but now as more and more information is becoming available online I can fill in some of the gaps. I am really looking forward to getting back into it again especially as I have been tracing family history for a few friends during the last couple of years too. It has started the juices flowing again.
How marvellous to learn so much about your history. I started looking into my family history a few years ago but gave up pretty quickly, maybe one day I’ll pick it up again
Fascinating. Like you, I used lockdown to do a lot of tracing of family history. It's great that the house is still there, makng it easier to picture lives etc.
It’s something I find very interesting too! I have managed to take mine back on both maternal & paternal side to the early 1800s, but I haven’t gone to find buildings etc.
This is quite a grand house for the time.
@robz@happysnaps@kjarn@ankers70@joansmor It is amazing what you find when you start digging. I have found some fascinating stories along the way which is why I want to write them all down.
@carole_sandford I have traced back to the early 1800s too and some in the late 1700s when this chap was born.
It was harder finding houses when I first started and had to rely on friends and family overseas to take photos for me, but nowadays if you have the address from the census records you can look up the places on Google maps if the house is still standing you do a screen grab of it by pressing print screen on the keyboard. Open a blank page in photoshop and edit paste and then you have your picture, easy ha ha.
@wakelys Our families are very complicated too but with a lot of digging I have found even the most difficult ones who just didn't want to be found.
@carole_sandford It is a grand house isn't it, but I have no idea where the money went. It didn't come our way. By the time it came down to my great grandfather on this line it had all disappeared, my great grandfather died in the Nottingham Workhouse Infirmary of osteo-arthritis, senile decay and cardiac failure.
@onewing fascinating! It’s the finer details that we aren’t always able to access, unless it was something that made the papers or is in a companies archives etc
A lovely home and nice history, I have only as far back on my mothers side to about 1600 which a friend researched for my sister as a birthday gift. It’s a fascinating subject but also a barrel of worms!!
Wouldn’t it be a rare thing if the person who now lived here & was a 365 member & saw their own house on the PP page…not that impossible! I’m sure whoever lives here now would be delighted you got in touch…I know I would.
A real Yorkshire farmhouse & I know that farmhouses are full of history, hope you unearth more about your family Babs.
No it isn't still owned by the family. My distant cousin, also called Richard did knock on the door to speak to the owners but there was nobody home so he just took a few photos and left. I wish he would have left an email address or phone number to be able to get more information, but I think I will write to the current owners and see if I can find out more information from them.
This is quite a grand house for the time.
@carole_sandford I have traced back to the early 1800s too and some in the late 1700s when this chap was born.
It was harder finding houses when I first started and had to rely on friends and family overseas to take photos for me, but nowadays if you have the address from the census records you can look up the places on Google maps if the house is still standing you do a screen grab of it by pressing print screen on the keyboard. Open a blank page in photoshop and edit paste and then you have your picture, easy ha ha.
@wakelys Our families are very complicated too but with a lot of digging I have found even the most difficult ones who just didn't want to be found.
A real Yorkshire farmhouse & I know that farmhouses are full of history, hope you unearth more about your family Babs.
@happypat I will contact the owner of Waterslack in the new year and hopefully will be able to get more information.
@ladymagpie Well done with your family history project. It is a fascinating subject