2018 Story Review

2018 is on its way out and 2019 is dawning and one of the things I like to do at the end of the year is to look at the stories I covered in the last year. They were:

Hidden Treasures: Looking for the female side of the family, a series of posts which looked at information found for some of the women in my family
https://genihistorypath.blogspot.com/2018/01/hidden-treasures-searching-for-female.html

Families of Immigrants, a series of posts that looked at the immigration of my family in different eras
https://genihistorypath.blogspot.com/2018/02/families-of-immigrants-first-half-of.html

The Pursuit of Leisure, explored various ways people spent their leisure time which began after looking at one of the first genealogists in my family
https://genihistorypath.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-pursuit-of-leisure.html

Ontario Research, covered the preparation for my trip to Ontario and the research that I did while I was there
https://genihistorypath.blogspot.com/2018/05/scottish-family-ties-in-early-ontario.html

How Correcting an Error Uncovered a Different Story, was about my grandfather's immigration to Canada and the sinking of the Empress of Ireland
https://genihistorypath.blogspot.com/2018/07/how-correcting-error-uncovered.html

Among the Teeming Masses - Family History in London, started the posts about my criminal ancestors in London, the Arments
https://genihistorypath.blogspot.com/2018/08/among-teeming-masses-family-history-in.html

Looking in London, was the beginning post for a series on another London based set of ancestors, this time one that I am trying to get back to Ireland
https://genihistorypath.blogspot.com/2018/11/looking-in-london.html

DNA: Exploring the Latest Genealogy Tool, was the first post about my explorations into genetic DNA. There were others at various times during the year.
https://genihistorypath.blogspot.com/2018/03/dna-exploring-latest-genealogy-tool.html

Seasons Greetings

Best Wishes for a Happy Holiday Season

 

Using GPS in a heavily populated city

Reynold's map of the East End, 1882

More than once while I was in London, I wished I had GPS to find my way around but that is not the type of GPS referenced in the title. The GPS used to find ancestors is the Genealogical Proof Standard. The idea is to come up with a well reasoned argument to explain your conclusion about the ancestry you are trying to prove. In this case my task was to find the birth family for my great-grandfather, Henry Cavanagh.

In the absence of direct evidence, like a father's name on a marriage certificate, one of the steps required was to do a reasonably exhaustive search of the area for the possible Cavanagh parents who had a Henry of approximately the right age. This would be easier to do in a smaller town rather than in London, which, according to Wikipedia, had a population of 3,272,441 in the inner city in 1871. (Why oh why, did you get involved with a previously married woman, Henry?)

As part of my search I took a look for Henry Cavanagh in the family trees on Ancestry. Unfortunately from the looks of things, the trees other people had posted for this Cavanagh line look to be very sketchily put together. Looks like I am on my own in proving this line of ancestry. We'll see how far I can get. 

Sources:

Demography of London https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demography_of_London 

Image:

Reynolds map 1882 Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3847673

 

Landscapes from the past

We know that the population of the world has increased over time but it is hard to visualize that in Ireland and Scotland in the lightly peopled areas now devoted to sheep and other large-scale agriculture which once supported many families who subsisted on the land. Similarly, the streets of London used to house many people, now far fewer live in the streets of the city that used to teem with people. The contrast can be seen in the pictures from modern day Dock Street and the 1905 image of Whitechapel High Street.

                                Dock Street 2006

Dock Street itself is only one block long but in 1899, a couple of years before my grandmother and her first husband moved there, the post office directory of London shows a mix of residences and businesses, including two pubs, the Sailors' Home for Boarding & Lodging Seamen & Apprentices and Dr Barnardo's Homes for Orphan Waifs, which was further described as a children's free lodging house. There would have been many people walking up and down this now empty street. 


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Whitechapel High Street 1905 

It would have been noisy and probably smoky and no doubt subject to those famous London fogs. While it would be hard to recreate the sounds and smells of this street in earlier times, or indeed of many London streets, it is possible to visualize how they would have been through the magic of photos and newsreels, through websites like In Photos: London in 1900 and British Pathe . Another invaluable resource are the many books written about the area and its surrounds. I am reading my way through some of those tomes hoping to glean a better understanding of the place where my ancestors lived. 

Images:


Whitechapel High Street 1905 Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3847601