I really appreciated that link, Alexander! I've heard of Google Streetview, but never knew where to find it on the internet. That looks like the photo my cousin sent me of the bank she found, and judging by the map, she was at the wrong end of the street, the new part that was built after my family left for Canada in 1922. My father, uncle and grandmother all told me their house was "at the end near the Cathedral" (which they attended). I clicked on the Photos Nearby, and the houses looked just like the one in the family pictures I have -- but then, probably most houses all over the city looked like that a hundred years ago. The 1905 Post Office map I have showed a north-south (approximately) street named Dunbar, which was a joke my father used to buy a house for our family in Vancouver on a street with the same name. I don't see it on the Google map -- I thought it might be what they show as Don Street, but it's further from the church than the Dunbar Street in the 1905 map. I'll probably never know, but I enjoyed seeing the area now anyway. The school my father and uncles attended was near their home, and during WW1 he told me that after school, the boys would run across the open fields on the east side of King Street (now all built up, of course) to the shore, and stand there with slingshots, cudgels, and other deadly weapons :-) in case the Germans tried to land. They all had family members, such as my grandfather, in the Gordons, and were determined to do their bit just like their fathers, uncles, and older brothers. They occasionally saw balloons at a distance over the sea, and were all set to shoot them down with rocks, but my father said they were most likely just British weather balloons. Margaret Gibbs On 25/11/2013 2:34 PM, Alexander Bisset wrote: > Hi Bethany > Have you ever tried using Google's Streetview to see the area for yourself? > eg: this is the streetview for the Lloyds TSB branch on the corner of School Road today.http://goo.gl/maps/w1CrB > Hope this helps and gives you ideas to others about viewing how places their ancestors lived look today from the comfort of your own armchair. > >> Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2013 09:27:51 -0800 >> From:[email protected] >> To:[email protected] >> Subject: Re: [ABERDEEN] Aberdeen street numbers >> >> I found that the house in which my father lived as >> a child between 1912-1922, No. 6 School Road in >> Old Aberdeen, appears to have vanished. According >> to maps of the time, School Road ran from Dunbar >> east to King Street, and from King Street to the >> shore was open ground on which the local children >> played, according to him. After WW2, that open >> area was built over, and School Road was extended >> east of King Street. Meanwhile, St Machar Drive >> was built across the front of the church (or so it >> appears on maps -- I've never actually been to >> Aberdeen myself) and the name of the new street >> was extended to the original School Road as far as >> King Street. A cousin visiting the city from >> Canada investigated for me while making a tourist >> trip to the church, but said where she assumed #6 >> School Road, now #? St Machar Drive, would have >> been was now a bank and parking lot, and took a >> photo of same. As I have two photos of my father >> as a boy in front of and behind their house, it >> doesn't look as if the old structure was reused >> for the bank building. >> >> His maternal grandparents lived in Charles Street >> at that time, around the years of WW1, but my >> understanding is that that street was heavily >> bombed in WW2 and either was rebuilt or paved over >> for a new wider street. My cousin didn't have time >> to go there and see, and relied on what her tour >> guide told her when she asked about the street. >> >> Margaret Gibbs >> >> >> >> On 25/11/2013 6:39 AM, Gavin Bell wrote: >>> On 25/11/2013 00:34, Malcolm Ward wrote: >>> >>>> >>>> >>>> I wonder if anyone can tell me if street numbers in Aberdeen have changed >>>> since, say, the 1860s? >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> I have looked in the PO Directories and maps of the time and as far as I can >>>> tell, 31 Albyn Place in 1865 is the same building as now. But I have a >>>> bunch of other addresses, including on Union Street. So do I need to check >>>> each one off, or can I rely on all the old numbers being the same (except >>>> for maybe splits in allotments I guess)? >>> It might be safer not to make assumptions. Some street numbers may well >>> have changed, and I know for a fact that some street names have. I >>> can't say for certain whether there were any re-arrangements of existing >>> numbers on Union Street, but when it was first laid out, the name >>> applied only as far west as Union Bridge - beyond that was Union Street >>> West, and west of today's Summer Street it became Union Place. >>> >>> >>> Gavin Bell >>> >>> ------------------------------- >>> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >>> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

On 25/11/2013 23:10, [email protected] wrote: > ... > > The 1905 Post Office map I have showed a > north-south (approximately) street named Dunbar, > which was a joke my father used to buy a house for > our family in Vancouver on a street with the same > name. I don't see it on the Google map -- I > thought it might be what they show as Don Street, > but it's further from the church than the Dunbar > Street in the 1905 map. I'll probably never know, No. Dunbar Street is quite separate and different from Don Street, although the two are quite close and run roughly parallel to each other. I would suggest that, if you really want to get an idea of how the place looks and looked, you do not rely exclusively on Google Maps! You will find a range of historical maps on the website of the National Library of Scotland (http://maps.nls.uk/). Getting the best out of this site can take a little while, but the effort will be worth it. You can also purchase good, old-fashioned maps on paper. Aberdeen and Northeast Scotland FHS (http://www.anesfhs.org.uk/) sell reprints of maps including "Old Aberdeen 1899" (catalogue MO285) which covers the School Road / St Machar's Drive area. Gavin Bell