Where our ancestors lived

Where our Ancestors lived

1881 census 1901 census FreeCen
On Line searchable directories Old Maps

A census has taken place every 10 years since 1801.
1801 to 1831 were head counts, but names, ages, origins Etc. appeared from 1841.
The enumerators were obliged to write down what they were told, and people were often 'economical with the truth'.
Fear of removal to parish of origin could cause birthplace to be incorrect and people might not have known their age or lied to partners and so had to continue with the lie.
George Cooper, and Mary Ann West
William Knight
In 1841 ages over 15 could be rounded down to the nearest 5, so '34' becomes '30'

Microfilms of the census are held locally - see Familia

A number of companies produce census returns on CD
Stepping Stones
S & N Genealogy

Interesting facts from the Census Office

Census placenames (1891)

British census indexes online , transcripts and CDs
Census Finder

Census 1841 - 1911

FreeCen a 'free to view' searchable database

Headley (Hampshire)

Directories

Trade and commercial directories have been published since the late 17th century but 'took off' in the C19
They list all the traders in a particular place, plus lists of the gentry, clergy, professional people Etc.
Directory publishers include Kelly's, Pigot's, White's and The Universal British Directory.
A directory would have been published at least a year after the information had been collected.

The companies in 'census' above also produce directories on CD

On Line searchable directories

County index on GENUKI

'Google Search' eg pigot +county

And of course, Kellys

Gazeteers

Gazeteers are listings of geographic names.
They may include just cities and towns, or all sorts of geographic features and histories of a place.
These might help to tie down where a farm/hamlet/village/parish might have been.
GENUKI present day locator
If this brings no luck try the appropriate county mailing lsit - someone will know!

Ordnance Survey

GENUKI

Placenames in the 1891 census

Cyndi's List

Maps

Present day map are provided by the Ordnance Survey, Streetmap and Multimap.
Historical maps can be found on
Old Maps which stores each map as 16 individual files so scrolling is not possible but the maps can be saved.
A gazeteer is on the site and a present day aerial view and map.

Old County maps are on Genmap

County maps
(Boundary Commission - 1885)

Streets of Victorian London (1859)

Old Sussex Maps

South Coast Harbours 1698

Pictures

The simplest way to find a picture of a location is to enter it into the images section of google.
MultiMap provides an aerial view of a location

The Francis Frith collection of photographs.
The National Monument's Register has modern photographs of historical buildings.
British Pathe - be prepared to spend a lot of time here!

Localities

Many websites exist all about a locality, or describe an area.

Others try and cover the UK such as Any-Village, or try a 'Google search'

Vision of Britain

Victorian London
AIM25 Archives in the London area

London Ancestor

Salehurst - a one place study

The Sussex Weald

Findon