Do We Ever Really Care Who Lived In Our Property?

[renegadefm]

Just recently discovered my house was built in 1936.

That could easily mean 2 or 3 generations could have lived in it before I bought it in 1990. I'm using the word generations loosely because I don't think people moved around in those days like we do now, but there was 6 decades of people living in it before me. 

 

Is it normal to want to dig up who lived in it since it was built in 1936, or do I just not bother?

 

We sometimes get random smells of cigarette smoke in the kitchen area, but non of us smoke.  What does that mean? 

[Bazile]

Yep , the odour of 20 Benson & Hedges doth linger 

[jno]

I've been through the censuses to find out who lived in mine. Nothing to interest David Olusoga, though.

[renegadefm]

Bazile, 

Cigarette smoke shouldn't linger over 30 years of living here. 

But it does randomly smell of cigarette smoke in this house. 

Unexplainable really. 

[renegadefm]

Jno, 

Who is David Olusoga? 

[david small]

1876 is the age of our house. We've lived here nearly 50 years.

[1ozzy]

My house was built in 1940 from a disassembled pub that was built circa 1860.

I've never wondered who lived in my house but I do wonder who used to drink in it, all those years ago, and just what their life was like.

 

[ladybirder]

Rene, David Olusoga is a broadcaster and historian.  Surprised you've never heard of him.

He co-wrote Black History for Every Day of the Year with his siblings Yinka and Kemi Olusoga.

[douglas9401]

The smoke will be from a neighbour. We get it regularly when the psycho witch through the wall from us lights up and the wind is in the right direction.

The joys of semi-detached living.

[renegadefm]

douglas9401, 

It can't be a neighbour as either side of me are elderly women who both lost their husbands who don't smoke. 

I should add the smell of cigarette smoke which is quite distinctive is always in the area of our kitchen. And its not really connected to anything or anyone who smokes. 

 

Its quite odd really. 

[DDIL]

I think it depends on the property, my previous house was very old and in a historic village next to another historic village that housed a very famous historical figure.  I spent a long time researching the house and found out some very interesting facts and pictures.

[netherfield]

Ours built in 1911, We're the third family to live here.

1911-1947, 1947-2001, 2002 to present day.

[Barmaid]

I think it is quite fascinating to do this sort of thing. Your first step will be to look at the 1939 register. Electoral rolls will help take it forwards.  But what was there before 1936?

Our house was built in the late 17thC with an 18thC wing added. I've identified the occupants back to 1841, but further back than that needs a visit to the local record office.

I also partially traced the history of my childhood home and got back to about 1790 (and my goodness there were some tales). I know records exist in respect of that property to the early 1300s. It's just a case of having the time to go and look at them.

I've also traced the history of my father's childhood home which has a confirmed link to Oliver Cromwell.

[jno]

Renegade, Dovid Olusoga presents an occasional TV series called A House Through Time, which does just that - follow a house through the centuries explaining who lived there and what they did.

Mine's the same age as Netherfield's and afaik I'm the fourth owner, since 1985. Previous owners were a headmaster and two doctors.

[Canary42]

My present house was built in 1964. I bought it off the couple who commissioned it (both since deceased) so am aware of all inhabitants.

The house I grew up in was commissioned by Ben Davies, a famous Welsh singer in the late 1890s.  I have no knowledge of intermediate occupiers until the guy my parents bought it from. I also know of the mercenary guy who bought it off my Mum and demolished it for a block of flats after promising her he didn't intend to do so (she loved that house, a wonderful old flint seaside guest house, and she burst into tears the first time she saw the replacement).

[tomus42]

Of course we don't care. It's just interesting for people that are interested in it.

I live in an old house. Do I care who owned it first? Nope.

Would I listen if someone gave me that information? Yep.

[Barmaid]

As for the random smell of cigarette smoke, a hot plug can produce such smells. 

But more likely it is a nearish neighbour or someone walking past and with the wind in the right direction, you'll smell the chemicals in modern fags.

[tomus42]

Random smell of cig smoke means someone is smoking somewhere around your property.

That stuff stinks from miles away.

[Barmaid]

Oh and people DID move around a lot in the past. It's a fallacy to think they didn't.

Until I started doing historical research, I thought that folk didn't travel. But they did and quite a bit. It was quite an eye opener for me. 

 

[renegadefm]

Barmaid, 

But how if it was a major effort in a horse and cart. A journey to anywhere was probably planned days before, its not like today we just jump in a car and be in town by 10 minutes. 

In the old days these things had to be a worthy cause. 

[Barmaid]

Well it wasn't just horse and cart.  Firstly, the roads were not as we travel now, they would have been more direct across fields. Secondly, people thought nothing of walking several miles a day. Thirdly from the mid 1800s the railway system was v good with many villages having stations. Fourthly rivers were far more navigable than they are now.

People often travelled for work, with hiring fairs being held in May.

I have one ancestor in the 1800s who owned farms 60 miles apart and he nipped between them no bother. Another in the mid to late 1700s was all over the place - I suspect by boat - from Lincolnshire to the Isle of Wight!