grannypat

My mum lived in Beeley Street just off the bottom of Cemetery Road. She and her brothers and sister all went to St. Matthias school. There surname was Stevenson. I would love to be in touch with anyone who knows anything about the family at that time. The name Olive Egginton seems to have been a friend of my mum's growing up.

My ex brother in law worked as a salesman at Autoways during those years. His name was Peter Jones and he played trumpet in a band as well. So pleased he became an ex brother in law.

The death of John Cobb attempting a speed record on Loch Ness in 1952.

sadbrewer - Have sent you a PM

It's because he has not visited the Ancestry site for over a year that I am trying to locate him in other ways but as I have no idea where he lives or anything at all about him it's very difficult. I'm trying SF because the family on his FT are a Sheffield family. I have messaged him on Ancestry too but no reply.

Does anyone know a Malcolm Watson who might possibly have visited Ancestry.co.uk during the last 2 or 3 years and entered a few people onto a family tree there and then never bothered doing anything else? The family that he entered were named Stevenson and lived in Sheffield in the early part of the last century. It looks as though he must be related to our family but I don't have a clue who he is. It would be fascinating to be able to find out how he fits in. So I would really like to contact this person but as there are no more details other than his name I am stumped. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Grannypat

Hello noproblem. Yes, I'm still here, don't know about anyone else. I was a window dresser down at The Arcade during the early to mid 60s. So I was involved with most departments but not the butchers - sorry. They did their own window displays I am pleased to say. I do remember that some of the lads from Archer Road used to come into the canteen at lunchtimes. The decibel levels would always rise with their presence. It was always quite noisy in there anyway but always good humoured. Give me a few names and I was try to search my memory banks.

Yes that's it in a nutshell. According to Ancestry if you do a surname search on your DNA results page that will only give you direct ancestors who share that surname. I hoped that it would bring up people on my list who had that surname in their tree, even cousins, aunts, uncles etc. So I have gone thru each one individually looking for Bolland and/or Laxton. There are one or two very distant matches but when I look at their tree they are dealing with people in the 1600s so not much help. I just hoped that there might be someone still living in the Sheffield area who has either of these surnames and knows a little of their family history for the last 100 to 150 years. Ever the optimist eh? I thought I knew who my grandfather was but going by my DNA results it's looking unlikely but I would like to be able to prove it one way or the other.

I am trying to work out if a certain person was my grandfather or not. I am a member or Ancestry and have taken a DNA test some years ago but none of my family or relatives have done the same. This is making my task almost impossible. If you have the surnames of either Laxton or Bolland in your family tree and they lived in Sheffield I would love to hear from you. If you have also taken an Ancestry DNA test you could be the answer to my prayers.

Yes hillsbro you are right. That was what I had hoped they would tell me even if they can't access the records to do an exact search. It would seem that the different sections don't communicate with each other so if the person who emailed me wasn't from the relevant section she just didn't know. I'm all for computers but I have to say that back in 'the good old days' someone would have found out that info so that they could add it to my email. Is it just me having rose tinted gasses when looking back into the past or did people used to just go that extra mile in those days - well some people?

Thanks for that Hillsbro. I just thought that perhaps you might have something squirrelled away in your stash. I know that you have a lots of reference material. I shall send Archives an email as you suggest. You are always such a help to me.

Wow Hillsbro that is really helpful. These were addresses where my great gran lived when my gran was tiny. People seemed to move house quite often back then but always seemed to stay in the same little area. Btw you don't happen to know if Sheffield Archives hold an electoral roll for any of the years between the 1911 census and the start of WW1 when they stopped for the duration? I know it's a bit random but you seem to be such a source of knowledge when I need to ask these questions that I thought it might be worth asking. Sheffield Archives did tell me some years ago that not many of the ERs still exist for the early part of the last century. Were there Kelly's for any of these years, do you know? The trouble with Kelly's is that they don't do some of the smaller streets and none of the courts but you never know.

It's good to know which side of the street are the even numbers for future reference too. Very helpful. Thank you.

Thank you Organgrinder. That's really helpful.

Can anyone tell me how far apart 255, Gleadless Road, 25, Spencer Road and 38, Prospect Road are? I realise that things may have changed since the time I'm enquiring about which is around the 1880s but as Gleadless Road is such a long road I realise that it could be quite a long way apart. Any thoughts would be gratefully received. 🙂

Oh thanks Hillsbro I should have realised that you would know. I was right then about the Ecclesall Road address. It is just across the road from the cinema. I wonder what it sold. They aren't very far apart though are they? That is so very interesting. Thank you so much and thanks to Jeffery Shaw and Rockers Rule too. 😀

I'm just dong some family tree stuff and I find myself wondering how close these ancestors actually lived back around 1900. one runs a shop at 137, Ecclesall Road and the other lives at 48 Cemetery Road. There were little roads which ran between the factories from Ecclesall Road to Napier Street as I recall. I found out the the Ear Grey public house was 97 so it must be on the same side of the road. I think it must have been opposite The Star, don't you think? Perhaps near Hartley's sarsarparilla bar. (not sure of the spelling) I'm not sure of 48, Cemetery Road would have been before where Napier Street joins or after. Probably just before. Does anyone know ????? Grannypat

Hi Nanajen, Welcome. I'm sure that you won't regret joining this site. The people are really friendly and if you have anything at all that you need help with to jog your memory there will always be some one on here who will either know or will find out for you. They've never failed me. I think a trip down memory lane is something we all enjoy as we get a little older. Things have changed so much, especially around where we used to live, haven't they? It looks like a different place entirely. I preferred it as it was I have to admit. Might not have been as new looking but it had bags more character. I couldn't believe it when I saw they had knocked down The Arcade. Such a beautiful building. Ah well! Grannypat

If you stand at the main gates of the drive up to the front of the old Nether Edge Hospital buildings our school was immediately across the road. I think it's offices now. We also had some of the buildings which looked as though they were a part of the hospital as they were on the same side of the road as the hospital. From the main gates right down as far as the junction.

Oh really???? I seemed a lot longer than that. Mr Silcock was lovely but he was only little wasn't he? The teacher who remains in my memory was 'Hiram Holliday'. I can't remember his real name and I don't know about the other classes but our class made his life a misery. I've felt bad about that over the years. I'll bet he was a nice chap really just not ideal teacher temperament.

Hi Pkm. Have you considered doing a DNA test on Ancestry. It's not cheap but it would seem that may be your only way of tracing any relatives. You could perhaps start by doing your family tree on Ancestry. I have been doing mine for many years and it really worthwhile especially if you are trying to find people. If you PM me with all your dad's details such as date of birth and place of birth. His parents names too if you know them and I'll see what I can find out, if anything. Grannypat

Hi Martin, I have sent you a PM. Pat

I do remember Atkinson's dam Martin. Although I have to admit that I only remember ever playing there once but I think that's more because it was a bit further away than that I was posh. Me - posh!!!! 🤣

Which class were you in at St. Silas/ Were you in the same class as my cousin Robert Hobson and also Paul Mangle? They were both a bit older than me. My Uncle Eric's first yard was at the far end of Bishop Street and then he moved to Young Street. I don't know the reason for that. Perhaps it was a better situation. Another name which comes to mind was Kathleen Fowler. I didn't actually know her but I remember her name for some reason. Think she lived somewhere near you? I can't think why you thought we were posh. We only lived about 100yds from you after all and went to the same school. We didn't hold up our little fingers when drinking tea either. 🤣 Perhaps it was you lot who were the posh ones?

Hi Martin. I was thinking (don't laugh). You must be just a little bit older than me - say about 6 months as you weren't in our class at St. Silas so you must have been in the next class up. I think I started in September 1951 and left in 1957. If I'm honest I don't remember you from school really more from playing on Humble Road. The entrance to our yard was on Humble Road and we always used to play cricket or rounders etc at the top. We would then get moved down by neighbours after a while and would start again a bit further down until getting moved off again. You must remember.