Finding out who lived at an address?

[alysone]

Hi Everyone,
I know I am clutching at a very slender straw as I pose this question! I was wondering if it is ever possible to find out who was living at a specific address in 1907?
I just keep coming up blank with attempts to find a trace of my grandmother's early life. One of the few things I do know is that she was living at 16 Church St., Aldershot in April, 1907. I believe she was working as a domestic for a military family & went with them to India before this point. If I could find out the name of the tenant, then I might be able to track the family backwards to & from India?
I suspect I am dreaming in colour but you never know if you don't ask! alysone

[paddyscar]

Hi Alysone:

Many cities have directories that list people in alphabetical order by surname and also by street address. You may have to contact the local library or family history site for access as I'm not sure if they will be readily available online.

There's likely to be a source of info on families and their staff who travelled for the military.

Frances

[margarita]

Would you tell us your grandmother's name and how old she would have been in 1907?

Maggie

[Currie]

Hello Alysone,

The Head of the household at 16 Church Street, Aldershot at 1881 census on Ancestry appears to be:

Name: Henry Warde
Age: 36
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1845
Relation: Head
Spouse's Name: Isabella E.
Gender: Male
Where born: Lambeth, Surrey, England
Civil Parish: Aldershot
County/Island: Hampshire
Country: England
Street address: 16 Church Street
Condition as to marriage: Married
Occupation: Engraver Stencil Etcher (Artist)
Registration district: Farnham
Sub-registration district: Frimley
ED, institution, or vessel: 1

(There’s also a Turner family running a Pub? at 16 Church Lane.)

I checked some of these on FreeBMD and the name actually appears to be Ward.

I think that’s the only Ancestry census you can search by address so I checked http://www.1901census.nationalarchives. ... ith_locale came up with a Harry Ward, 56, born London Kennington, Living Hampshire Aldershot, Employed as Copper Plate Engraver. Likely it’s him but I don’t know the household details or address.

Possibly he’s at the same address. You could maybe check the 1901 census image and if he’s at No16 check any occupant’s names and occupations for clues. Try the telephone directories on Ancestry so see if there’s any Hampshire coverage. All that’s assuming street numbering hasn’t changed.

(Failing that, and if no one comes up with a better idea, when the next Ancestry freebee comes along round up some more Church Street names from 1881 – some names may be still there in 1901 - and go for a wander around 1901 Aldershot to find No. 16 because you can download as many images as you want.)

As Frances suggested give the Directories a try. There are heaps of English Directories available free on line. http://www.historicaldirectories.org/ Not a lot for Hampshire but try these for clues.

Kelly's Directory of Hampshire & Isle of Wight, 1898 (From page 17)

Kelly's Directory of Hampshire & Isle of Wight, 1911 (Pages 21 to 31)

But first check a map to ensure Church St. and Church Lane are different.

Hope this helps,
Alan

[alysone]

Thank you everyone!
I haven't the leisure just now to go through the wealth of helpful advice you have all offered so generously. Definitely, I will! =D>
My grandmother's name was Jane Williams (nee Jones, b. 1888 in Anglesey, Wales), as given on the birth certificate of her daughter, Sylvia Mona, born at 16 Church St. Aldershot on Feb. 28, 1907. The birth was registered on April 11, 1907 by the mother.
Now this is the stage at which things got tricky for me. The father is listed as Hugh Williams, Merchant Mariner. I have been unable to find a trace of him or a marriage record. Jane, now Veronica Williams (widow), married my grandfather in Dover in 1911.
I'll be back later, to figure out what I should do next. I do have an ancestry subscription. Thanks ever so much, alysone

Later:
I checked a map as you suggested, Alan, & found that Church St. is indeed different from Church Lane.
I searched out Harry Ward in 1901 on Ancestry. It is the same copper engraver & his family as in the 1881 census. They are no longer living at 16 Church St. So now I know who isn't living there! No clearer on who is, alas!
I couldn't find a relevant directory for Aldershot over the critical period of 1907-1910. If anyone knows of such, please advise me? (I am still confused as to how I would find them in a directory, if I don't know their name?)
It seems a likely address for a recently returned from India military family. What their name was is what I need to discover!
thanks, alysone

[trish1]

You can search the 1901 census by address at the National Archives
http://www.1901census.nationalarchives. ... =ad_search

Pay to view the result, the alternative is to search the district descriptions in ancestry & hope Church street is mentioned

There are 2 matches for 16 Church Street on the address search

Trish

[LesleyB]

Hi Alysone

I am still confused as to how I would find them in a directory, if I don't know their name?)

Directories were usually arranged in several different ways in the same book - alphbetically by name as in a modern telephone directory was one method, but very often you will also find a street listing with the names of the people who lived in that street. LAos tradesmen were listed by trade like the "yellow pages": e.g. Architects, Builders, Carpenters etc.

Examples of Directories from England can be seen here;
http://www.historicaldirectories.org/

Best wishes
Lesley

p.s. just noticed that new word there: "LAos" - I think I meant "also" !!

[JanetB]

Hi Alysone,

I have found 16 Church St in 1901 on Ancestry.
There were two households at number 16

Name: Ann Henderson
Widow
Age: 61
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1840
Relation: Head
Gender: Female
Where born: Gloucestershire, England
Occupation: Charwoman
Civil Parish: Aldershot
Ecclesiastical parish: Holy Trinity
County/Island: Hampshire
Registration district: Farnham
Sub-registration district: Aldershot
ED, institution, or vessel: 7
Household schedule number: 312

Name: Charles Connett
Age: 43
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1858
Relation: Head
Spouse's Name: Emma
Gender: Male
Where born: Teignmouth, Devon, England
Civil Parish: Aldershot
Ecclesiastical parish: Holy Trinity
County/Island: Hampshire
Country: England
Occupation: Joiner
Registration district: Farnham
Sub-registration district: Aldershot
ED, institution, or vessel: 7
Household schedule number: 311
Household Members:
Arthur H Connett 4
Charles Connett 43
Charles P Connett 11
Cuthbert Connett 16
Emma Connett 43
Frank J Connett 9
Gladys E G Connett 2
Harry Connett 20
William G Connett 18

The Connett family appear to have been in Devon in earlier censuses - I don't know about Mrs Henderson. I don't know that this will help you much

Good hunting

Janet

[Currie]

Hello Alysone,

Kelly's Directory of Hampshire & Isle of Wight, 1911 would quite likely not have any 1911 data in it. The directories would no doubt take some time to get organised and printed etc and are possibly based on older versions. It's not like a census. This particular one only seems to have the alphabetical listing. It’s not too big a place so you could trawl through the names (Pages 21 to 31) looking for Church Street and hopefully there will be numbers.

This General information about directories might be worth a read http://www.historicaldirectories.org/hd ... ngdir1.asp

If you didn’t want to pay for the 1901 census images Trish mentioned just try to latch onto Church Street in Ancestry 1901 possibly by picking up some more findable names of 1881 Church Street residents from Ancestry or even LDS. It doesn’t seem to be much of a street but the higher numbers appear to be unnumbered (if that makes sense). Most of the occupants look to be non military.

Hope that makes sense as I’m not sure whether I lost the plot somewhere there.

Alan

LATER: Looks like Janet just found them for you. You could try those names in the directory though I don't know whether they look very promising.
Alan

[Currie]

Alysone,

I checked the directory for the two people in the Aldershot section but couldn't see them. You can search the directory for Church etc. In the Aldershot pages there are heaps in Church Lane only about one with a number, about one in Church Street again no number, a couple in Church Road one of which had a number around 52. All very confusing but couldn't see anything useful at all.

Alan