HOUSE HISTORY CHALLENGE
We hope you have been enjoying the #Storyofourstreet project, which has hopefully inspired you with lots of ideas, to help you research your own street, or the street of one of your ancestors. In August, Paul Chiddicks set you a challenge, ‘The Chiddicks
Paul Chiddicks reveals the excellent entries to the 'Chiddicks’ Challenge’. Whose family have lived in one place the longest? Can you bet ’em?
Well, as ever, our readers never let us down when it comes to challenges. To say you beat my record is an understatement – you smashed it completely! From shops, houses and even public houses, it seems that some of our ancestors never ventured far and many properties stayed in the same family for centuries!
So let us begin the #Storyofourstreet. A post-war purchase
Reader Susan Hora starts us off with her family home in Reading, which was purchased by her parents in 1945. The family moved further along the same road in 1950 and remained in the same house until 2013. 63 years in the same house and 68 years on the same road, which was to feature later in a book.
Still going strong
Next up is Richard Burgess and his parents’ house in New Malden in Essex. Richard’s parents moved into the family home in November 1939 and paid the grand sum of 18s/6d rent per week. Richard himself was born in the house and although he technically hasn’t beaten my record of 83 years quite yet, his sister is still living in the same house today, so should easily beat my record.
Those precious deeds
Reader Robert Brigden’s family, first moved into their house in Rutland Park, in Catford in London, just after his grandparents were married in 1912. Robert’s grandparents later bought the leasehold of the house in December 1919 and Robert has copies of the deeds which shows that his grandfather borrowed the £225 mortgage from the Bermondsey Co-operative Building Society. The house stayed in the family’s hands, until Robert’s mother moved out in 1999, a grand total of 87 years in the Brigden family.
A hop across the pond
Jean Mckenny takes us across the pond, with her great-aunt, Elsie Cahoon, who lived in the same house in Pleasant Lake Village, Harwich Massachusetts from her birth in 1902, until she sadly passed away in 1990, a grand total of 88 years living in the same house. Many of Jean’s extended family, also lived on the same street for a number of years, a real family community.
A family of builders
Our next entrant comes all the way from New South Wales in Australia, Elaine Senz’s grandfather Albert Ashton, formerly from Birmingham in England, built a house in 1908 at Church St, Leichhardt New South Wales Australia, where Elaine’s father was born in 1912. Albert purchased the property next door in 1921 and her father built a new house on this site in 1956, where the Ashton family continued to live until 2003. 95 years living on the same street, is that a record?
Heroes, thieves & more
Reader Jenni Phillips’ family can beat that. She found connections to various properties in Jersey Street in Swansea, spanning around 100 years, whilst researching her Davies and Cheley families. Starting with Jenni’s 3x great-uncle, David Davies, in 1881 who was paying rent of the grand sum of 4s 6d at the time, Jenni’s family have had a presence on Jersey Street, almost up until the present day, with the last known connection, a probate record for Aubrey James Cheley in 1985. Jenni’s family story, is almost a #Storyofourstreet contained in one entire family. From a relative listed as having ‘one leg off ’ and ancestors accused of stealing from a timber yard, it was all happening on Jersey Street, including a paternity summons involving Sarah Davies of 18 Jersey Street who summonsed Alfred
John Thorne in a paternity case. Jenni was also able to find a WW2 Naval Commendation, Able Seaman Aubrey James Cheley received a King’s Commendation for brave conduct aboard the Merchant Ship SS Zamalek in 1945, before returning home from sea to Jersey Street.
The same two houses
Nicola Waterfall’s family have also managed almost a century in the same two houses, called Danryn located in Llangeler in Carmarthenshire. With the first recorded entry of her family being the 1881 Census and the family continued lived there until 1977.
Bathtime memories
Reader Shirley Hawley takes us on
a little trip down memory lane. Her family home was second to last to be built in 1905 in King’s Road, Surbiton and it remained in the family for another 105 years, until 2010. The house was named Caroni after a sugar plantation in Tabago and Shirley remembers from her childhood that the bath was under the table and Christmas puddings were cooked in there as well! The larder cupboard was in the living room and there was no double glazing, no phone and only basic electricity. There was an ‘outside toilet’ covered by a lean-to and the front room was so cold it doubled up as a fridge and that’s where they kept the milk.
Siblings down the street
Reader Ruthy Ludgate takes us well past a century, with four generations of her paternal Coker family living in several houses on the same South West London Road, between 1897 and 2004. James and Sarah Coker moved into the newly built house on Salvin Road, Putney, in early 1897, with their eight children. Over the next 20 years, as the children grew up and married, five of them chose to remain on Salvin Road. William, the eldest, settled with his wife at No. 17 and Walter, (their fifth child) and his wife at No. 23. The three youngest, all daughters, married, but their husbands joined them on the street. Mabel took on No. 21 from her parents, Lily moved into No. 19 and
Florence moved into No. 5, all living there until their deaths in the 50s, 60s and 70s. Some of their children remained in the street when they grew up too, with the last family member living there until 2004. The houses were built in pairs, had three ground floor rooms (one with a cooking range) plus a scullery, a cellar and small back yard with outside privy. Upstairs, there were three large bedrooms and a box room, later made into a bathroom. To move into a new house, with all the modern conveniences, at an affordable rent, at the turn of the 20th century must have felt like going up in the world.
Four generations
Denise Blair can beat the previous record of 107 years with a total of 110 years, across four generations of her maternal family. From her great-grandparents’ first occupancy in 1901, to her own occupancy and the sale of the house in 2011. The house is situated in Denaby Main, a once thriving mining village outside Doncaster. Primarily the village was made up of houses built by the colliery company to house their workers, but the house that Denise’s family lived in, was built by the Co-operative Company and available to rent. The original rent book shows they paid £25 deposit on 9 April 1902 with the first week’s rent of 6 shillings (30p) being due on 14 April 1902. The property was bought outright in the 1940s.
A rent book discovery
Reader Janet Wilkins’ discovery of a rent book in 2017, dated from 1904, revealed that the same house in Tottenham, had been in her husband’s family for a total of 113 years. You just never know what records you are going to find whilst researching your family history and how much they might reveal.
An Orcadian farm
Those of you that are regular Family Tree Academy enthusiasts will recognise the name of our next entrant! Dave Annals’ 3x greatgrandparents, Peter Annal and Ann Cromarty moved into their Orkney Farmhouse, after they married in February 1831. Their great-grandson, John Annal Russland died in the very
same house in 1954: a grand total of 123 years of occupancy for the Annal family.
And an Ohio farm
For our next story we trek across to Hemlock in Ohio and Charles Andrews’ family farm, which has been in the family since 1890 and is still owned today by Charles’s second cousins, a total of 130 years in the same family name.
Links to 1700s Slovenian
Reader Fergus Smith takes #Thestoryofourstreet truly global! His daughter’s great-grandfather was born in a small house in Slovenia in 1900 and so were several generations before him, culminating with Martinus in 1769, a grand total of 131 years in the same house. How incredible is that.
Back to the Orkneys
Reader Jane Harris takes us on a quick trip back to The Orkneys, where her maternal line has worked and owned the same farm from the early 1850s to the 1990s. The farm was sadly sold after the granddaughter of the original owner had died: a total of 140 years in the family’s hands.
Creech Bottom
Karen Crumpler can also match our previous best of 140 years, her family home in Creech Bottom (what a wonderful name) in Wareham in Dorset, was in the family from 1854 until 1994.
Moving to Michigan
Susan Thompson raises the bar again, with her 2x great-grandfather Charles Andersson, who purchased some land and built a farmhouse, when he emigrated from Sweden to Michigan in 1878. The house passed through several generations of Susan’s family and is still owned and farmed by her uncle, Alan Henrickson today. A total of 142 years!
152-year family farm
Patty Hankins’ family have owned and worked the same farm in Stafford, New York, since the farm was first purchased by her great-greatgrandfather in 1868. The farm is still owned today by Patty’s cousins, making that a whopping 152 years in the same family, but can we beat that?
Shopkeepers galore
Reader Margaret Spiller’s family certainly embraced the entrepreneurial spirit, with no less than three different businesses in the family name of Andrews, all on one street in North Dorset.
In total, four generations of the Andrews family lived on New Street, in Marnhull, Dorset, starting with Margaret’s 2 x great-grandfather, James Andrews, who moved there with his family in 1850. He became a tenant of the property known as Crosses House, which consisted of two buildings along with outhouses, land and an orchard. He originally ran a grocer’s shop and bakery and later expanded the business to include a draper’s shop as well. By the early 20th century, there were three family businesses on New Street: a grocer’s shop, a draper’s shop and a garage. The Andrews family lived on New Street, Marnhull from 1850 until 2009, a total of 159 years.
Berwickshire recordbreaker
If you thought 159 years was impressive, reader Karen De Bruyne knocks it out of the park, with a
record breaking 186 years! Karen’s husband’s 5x great-grandfather died in February 1766 at Langrigg Farm in Berwickshire and the farm was sold by his direct descendants in 1952. That’s a grand total of 186 years in the Tait family name, an astonishing record.
A combined total
Now we start to move up a gear or two with reader Dara Mcgivern and both sides of her family, who hail from Dublin. Dara’s mum still lives in her Dad’s ancestral family home in Dublin, which was built around 1850 and occupied by members of the family from then, until the present day. On Dara’s mother’s side, the family lived in Jane Place in Dublin, from the early 1860s until the house was eventually knocked down in the 1970s. That’s a combined total of roughly 280 years between two ancestral homes. Now that’s pretty impressive, but can a combined total of 280 between two homes be beaten?
Well of course we can top that.
Lucky longevity
Karen Mahoney also has an amazing record of longevity on both sides of her and her husband’s family. On her husband’s side, the family have lived in the same farmhouse for 181 years and still counting and on Karen’s side, the family have lived in two neighbouring houses for 125 years. A combined total of a staggering 306 years.
What are you taking?
Reader Paul Gorry adds a little twist to the challenge, his grandfather, Joseph Gorry opened a chemist shop in 1902 in Naas, in County Kildare and an incredible 14 children were born in the house. His daughters lived there until the last one sadly passed away in 2011, a total of 109 years living in the same shop. Originally the shop premises were in two halves, until Joseph took out a lease on the other half of the shop and the family home expanded. Years later, Joseph purchased the whole property from the landlord, the Earl of Mayo. Joseph died in 1960, but his daughters remained there into the 21st century, the last of them, living there until her death in June 2011. A grand total of 109 years owning and running one shop!
A quick trip to the pub
We finish with a trip to the pub, thanks to reader Barry Rees and his wife, and why not? I think we deserve a drink after that tour of our ancestral homes from around the world!
The Three Salmons Pub in Carmarthen has been owned by three generations of the Rees family stretching back to Barry’s 4x greatgrandfather, Walter Rees, who took over the running of the pub in 1772. It was then passed to his son, Richard Rees and in turn to his son, another Richard Rees in 1848. By 1852 Richard was back running The Three Salmons after running up debts with his cabinet maker business. That’s three generations of the Rees family, associated with The Three Salmons Inn, over 80 years. You might think this is the end of Barry’s story, but far from it. Barry’s wife, who is ‘allegedly not interested in family history’ has even surpassed Barry’s record and almost set the record herself! The Davis Family from Prendergast in Haverfordwest were all involved with the building trade and were responsible for building a number of homes in and around Prendergast. The Davis family occupied properties in Prendergast from 1840 for a further 180 years with Aunty Lottie being born at Number 26 on 21st August 1889 and it was here that she sadly died 100 years and 3 months later, on 24th December 1989.
Thank you folks
Thank you so much for everyone who has taken the time to reply and get involved with this fun challenge and what a wonderful journey that was, from pubs to shops, to farms and houses, from as far apart as Australia and Slovenia and back across the pond to the USA. We have seen so many fascinating and interesting stories on our #Storyofourstreet and it looks like the two Karens take the first prize for, ‘The Chiddicks Challenge’. Karen De Bruyne’s Tait family’s 186 years at Langrigg Farm takes the individual prize and Karen Mahoney’s 306 combined years, from both sides of her family is a combined record.
I wonder if families of today and properties of today’s era, will stand the test of time in the future? Will we ever see properties in one family’s hands for generations? Only time will tell…