Monday, January 21, 2013

1891 Wales and England Census - Palmer Family

I am thrilled with my online research!
Last Monday evening, late at night, I found the Palmer Family listed on the 1891 Wales and England Census at the World Vital Records site. Here is the full image above.

This is the cropped version showing the Palmer family names.
In 1891 they lived at 51 West Street in Stoke-sub-Hamdon, Somerset, England.
My great great grandfather, George Palmer is listed as age 47, glove cutter.
His wife, Emma, is listed as age 38, glover.
Two sons are apprentices, one is a glove cutter, one is a shepherd boy, and the three remaining children are listed as scholars. Herbert, my great grandfather, is age 5 on this census.

I decided it was time to check out Stoke-sub-Hamdon!
I clicked on the ever famous and most handy Google maps, and took a picture with my digital camera of the above image. It looks like my country.

Then I checked out 51 West Street.
Here is a picture of the Palmer residence.

Another view.

And another view.

Then I zoomed out to see the area in map view.
I located 51 West Street, left bottom where the little red balloon is, and actually found a glove factory within walking distance, (red x) as I knew the Palmers wouldn't have been able to drive to work, and would have to live close by. This was one of the high lights of my whole genealogy research so far! I hovered my computer mouse over the words "Southcombe Bros" when I went back into the satellite view, and there was a website attached, and the place is really and truly a glove factory today, in 2013, and has been in operation since 1847! Here is the website for Southcombe Bros.
I was so excited I screamed.

Then I zoomed into street view and took these photos of Southcombe Glove Factory, where my Palmer family worked.




This is the post office on High Street, a few blocks from where the Palmers lived.
I'm sure it's always been the PO!

Close by is a medieval priory. Stoke-sub-Hamdon fascinates me, and I'm thrilled to discover my great great grandparents are from this area. One day I'd love to visit and check it out and buy a pair of Southcombe gloves! It's so neat to think I discovered all this just by studying an old census form.

2 comments:

Derek Andrews said...

The architecture of the picture of 51 West Street didn't seem to fit the era you mentioned, so I took a look myself and the buildings either side are probably more representative of the house your ancestors might have lived in. The current house is brick, I would guess 1940-1950, whereas most of the neighbours are stone - as is the garden wall of 51.

You will probably also be interested in taking a look at Kellys Directory of 1883. He lists two glove manufacturers.
http://books.google.ca/books?id=SCPNAAAAMAAJ&dq=51+west+street+stoke+sub+hamdon&q=glove+stoke-sub-hamdon#v=snippet&q=glove%20stoke-sub-hamdon&f=false

It seems to have been quite a big business in the Yeovil area:
http://books.google.ca/books?id=SCPNAAAAMAAJ&dq=51+west+street+stoke+sub+hamdon&q=glove+stoke-sub-hamdon#v=snippet&q=glove%20stoke-sub-hamdon&f=false

I just did a quick search on FreeCen for Stoke Under Hamdon in 1891 and it returned 425 records with 'glove' in the occupation column, so it was obviously a big business in those days.

Loretta said...

Thank you, Derek, for your informative comments. Well, to me the house looked "old"! LOL At least I can view the area where my ancestors lived, if not the actual house. One day I'd love to visit Somerset.