Family Address Book

One of the fun things for me with my genealogy research is finding out where my ancestors lived. For the most part I discover this by looking at old census records, although it can be really tough to decipher the handwriting of those old census workers sometimes. Since I'm having a heckova case of writers block today, I thought it might be fun to share some of my ancestors' addresses with you. Maybe, who knows, maybe someone lives near where my ancestors once lived.

1001 Oakdale Rd, NE, Atlanta, GA
My first address was a home that my great-grandparents, Dr. Charles P. Ward and Sara Bulloch Ward bought in 1923 or 24. It was a big old house in Northeast Atlanta and it had room for lots of odds and ends of cousins and other stray people. The place where my grandmother lived as a baby was the same place I lived as a baby and I think that's way cool. The house is still there but it's undergone massive renovation over the years.

609 McCabe Ave, Asbury Park, NJ
The Gant family seems to have had a similar ancestral home with multiple generations. The census records list it as Bradley Beach and the city directories list is as Asbury Park. I'm not sure which is correct but it's a short 5 block walk to the beach. In the 1910 Census it shows Roland Shafto (my great-great-grandfather) as being the head of household. The previous census shows Roland as living in Shrewsbury Township in the same county but doesn't give a street address. Records show the home was built in 1904 and the most recent records I've been able to locate show my Roland's wife, Sarah Donahay Shafto, living in the home at the time of her death in 1953. I think they may have been the original owners.

3708 Fifth St, Meridian City, MS
Luther and Mary Alice Jackson, my mom's maternal grandparents lived here at the time of the 1920 Census. When I plugged the address into Google, the first thing that came up was a list of sex offenders. I'm not sure what that part of the world looked like in 1920 but it's quite rundown now (at least based on Google street view). By the next census, 1930, they had moved to 328 Sylvan St,  Chattanooga, TN and it appears that they lived there for a good while.

83 W. Harris, Atlanta, GA
My great-great-grandmother, Rosa Hawes Ward is listed in the 1908 Atlanta directory at this address. The 1900 census listed her in Lincolnton, GA (in the Eastern part of the state, towards Augusta) and the 1910 census lists her in Cave Springs, GA which is in the far Western part of the state. Great-Great-Grandfather William Cleveland Ward died in 1906 which apparently led to some instability in Rosa's life. She died in 1921 but I haven't been able to locate the 1920 census to determine where she was living at that time.

127 N. Michigan Ave, Atlantic City, NJ
Great-Great-Great Grandfather John Harvey is listed at this address in 1905.

472 Cherry St, New York, NY
Throckmortan Allaire, my 4x great grandfather lived at this address in 1839.

Farmingdale Rd, Wall Township, NJ
George Polhemous Donahay, 3x great-grandfather was living at this address in 1910.

Williams College, Williamstown, MA
In 1826 my 3x great-grandfather, Comfort I. Ward was listed as a resident student.

Miller County, Missouri
3x great-grandfather Samuel Pennington registered for the draft for the Civil War as a 35 year old. I don't know if he fought and if so, for which side.

From Iowa to Minnesota to Canada and all over... my roots are vast and deep in the United States. I hope this was more interesting than hearing that I did two loads of laundry and scooped out the litter box today. I think as long as you have an interest, such as genealogy, to keep you entertained, you're never really bored.