Locating 19th century addresses today

snickerpuss

Hi all,

I've been doing a lot of family history research and as I collect records I become more interested in where my my ancestors lived. They are largely in Dublin although one is in Newbridge. My question is how do I find these locations today?

I know that Cutpurse Row no longer exists (my ancestors lived there right up to the year before it was altered in 1863.) But can I assume that 16 Portland Row or 28 East Essex Street are roughly in the same place?

OSI mapviewer has been great for locating lanes etc that no longer exist but is there a way to figure out where the numbers would have been on the street?

Thanks for any info!

shanew

you can often work out the locations for city addresses form directories like Thom's which include street listings with numbers and junctions etc. e.g. summary from 1852 :

Cutpurse Row
from New-row to Corn-market
1,2, & 3 Parish of St. Catherine, 4-9 St. Nicholas without

1. John J. & Robert Moran tanners etc,
2. Caleb Connelly printer/bookseller
3. Richard H. Hill miller & corn merch.
... here Corn market and Lamb alley intersect....
4. Joseph Cunningham grocer
5. Michael Hanlon victualler
6. Jeffrey Hawkins baker
7. Richard Flood confectioner
8. Lawrence Fitzsimons comb. mkr
9. John Dillon trimming warehouse

number 1 would be at the New-row end of the street. Based on the parish it may be possible to work out which numbers were on which side.

shanew

based on comparison of maps, it looks like 1 to 3 Curpurse Row were on the northern side of the street with no. 1 to the west. So usually that means number 4 to 9 were on the south side with number 4 on the east side of the street (the street listings generally go along one side and back the other). According to McCready the street name dates back to at least 1748 and it was incorporated into Cornmarket in 1863.



Many streets stayed with the same numbering system for a long time, but there were some that altered but this usually can be worked out from the listings. It appears that Essex Street East is basically the same number layout now as it was in the 1870s, i.e. no. 1 north side at the western end. Portland Row also looks the use same system as it was did 1870s - no. 1 western side at the northern end etc...

Do you have dates for your Portland Row and East Essex street addresses ?
I could check in a bit more detail..

snickerpuss

Thanks for that Shane, much appreciated.

The family are in 16 Portland Row from at least 1866-1869 from various certs. Then boot and shoemaker John Brereton is living at 28 East Essex Street from 1884-1910.

I'll have to pop into Pearse Street library and start cross referencing directories with maps!

shanew

no problem... some quick details on the other two addresses to get you started :

In 1885 number 28 Essex Street East is listed between the Temple bar and Eustace street junctions which have numbers which ran from 24 to 29. Your John Brereton is listed as a boot manuf.

In 1869 there are three Portland Rows listed :

Portland Row West, located off NCR (St. George)
Portland Row, Summerhill (St. Thomas)
Portland Row, off Portland street (St. Catherine's)

can rule the last one out as it only has three houses, in ruins

Portland Row West - 16-19 small cottages (no names)
Portland Row - 16 Mr. Hugh Manning, at the jct. with Buckingham place

Doesn't apply to your search but worth mentioning - street listings for Dublin city only appear from about the 1830s and the earlier directories generally show alphabetical lists by person name. The earlier street listings, e.g. Pettigrew & Oulton 1834, can be quite basic and dont include the details such as the 'from - to' streets, civil parishes, junctions etc that are listed in later later directories - e.g. Thom's 1850.

Alicat

Snickerpuss, does your John Brereton have a grandson named William R. Brereton who married an Elizabeth M. Higgins?

snickerpuss

Alicat wrote: »

Snickerpuss, does your John Brereton have a grandson named William R. Brereton who married an Elizabeth M. Higgins?

My John Brereton is actually William R Brereton's father! My ancestor was born from his first marriage to Mary Monahan. William R Brereton was born to him and his second wife, Ellen O'Leary.

I've found a good bit of stuff - certs, burial records, baptisms, newspaper articles, wills etc from John Brereton and his father who was also a bootmaker named John Brereton. Are you related to him also?

When John Brereton died intestate in
1926 he left £450. The administrators of the estate were his sons William and.Edward 'salesmen'.

Alicat

Well Elizabeth Higgins was my great great grand aunt. I have a lot of those Brereton details you mentioned from a lady I came across a year ago on ancestry who is a Brereton descendent. I will check it all out later when I'm home from work, and let you know!

snickerpuss

Great, thanks Alicat!