Found the house
In 1911, my great-grandmother Viola Tyrrell lived in Windsor, Ontario. The address given in the 1911 Canada census was 167 Wellington. I tried locating the house in Google maps street view, but nothing came up.
I contacted the Windsor Public Library via email to ask them if addresses in Windsor had ever been renumbered. Last night I got a response from one of the wonderful librarians there that yes, a major shift in street numbers happened in 1937. 167 Wellington became 511 Wellington.
I put that number into Google maps and it popped right up!
I also did a regular Google search for the address and found a real estate listing for the house. It just got listed at the end of October 2015. Here's the listing: http://www.kijiji.ca/v-house-for-sale/windsor-area-on/house-for-sale-3-bedroom-bungalow-511-wellington-windsor/1114001258
How fun is it that I not only get to see the outside of the house but take a peek inside, too?
I'm so grateful to my librarian colleagues across the border for being so amazingly helpful! I wouldn't have found the house had I not reached out to them.
Viola lived there with her mom, Ida, stepdad John, grandma Eliza, and her sisters Gladys, Amanda, Bertha and Eva. That's a lot of people for a little house - but in 1911, I'm sure attitudes about that kind of thing were a lot different.
Viola was working as a bottler at a drug factory - working 60 hours a week putting pills into bottles. She made $280 a year doing this. I'd like to try finding the exact location of the factory. I can already picture her walking down the street on her way to work.
I contacted the Windsor Public Library via email to ask them if addresses in Windsor had ever been renumbered. Last night I got a response from one of the wonderful librarians there that yes, a major shift in street numbers happened in 1937. 167 Wellington became 511 Wellington.
I put that number into Google maps and it popped right up!
I also did a regular Google search for the address and found a real estate listing for the house. It just got listed at the end of October 2015. Here's the listing: http://www.kijiji.ca/v-house-for-sale/windsor-area-on/house-for-sale-3-bedroom-bungalow-511-wellington-windsor/1114001258
How fun is it that I not only get to see the outside of the house but take a peek inside, too?
I'm so grateful to my librarian colleagues across the border for being so amazingly helpful! I wouldn't have found the house had I not reached out to them.
Viola lived there with her mom, Ida, stepdad John, grandma Eliza, and her sisters Gladys, Amanda, Bertha and Eva. That's a lot of people for a little house - but in 1911, I'm sure attitudes about that kind of thing were a lot different.
Viola was working as a bottler at a drug factory - working 60 hours a week putting pills into bottles. She made $280 a year doing this. I'd like to try finding the exact location of the factory. I can already picture her walking down the street on her way to work.
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