Following up on the recent post, “Shedding Light on Brick Wall Ancestors”, it’s time to take a stroll in your ancestor’s shoes.
Assuming you have found a location where your ancestors lived. There are web sites that can whisk you back in time to see what life was like for your ancestor or ancestors during their lifetime. One web site that may be helpful is HistoryPin which is a user-generated archive of historical photos. Members of the site “pin” historical images to Google maps, comparing past and present-day locations for places where Google Street View is available. Members of the site build photo collections of historical content based around themes and locations around the world. From the Browse All Collections page, enter a city or topic and you will be pleasantly surprised at what you may find.
Books and articles on towns, cities and villages are another valuable resource. Google Books is a good starting point. Enter the name of the area you wish to research. Quite often local historical societies or libraries will have books that may summarize an area’s physical geography, settlement patterns and general development. They may also include biographies of “notable and distinguished residents”. If nothing of interest is found using just the name of the area you are researching, add the name of a resident with the name of the area and you may just hit an amazing amount of information.
Don’t forget the websites of towns, villages and cities as they often have links to local history and early settlers. These websites may also have links to local museums or historical societies in the area.
As you continue to study your ancestors and their lives through historical photos and maps, you will gain an invaluable insight into their lives, which will bring your ancestors to life in a much better way than birth, death and marriage information.
Sources: Wikipedia; HistoryPin; Google Books and Maps