I am trying to put all the facts and information I have with my Ellam family history and I am using Publisher to try to make it more interesting to our descendents. I have learned quite a bit about my husband's grandparents from the census and war records and marriage certificates etc so I am trying to record all this and add personal memories. I wrote about how my mother-in-law was born at home (I even know which home thanks to the 1911 census) and I told the story how she was one of a twin which died at birth and she was very tiny and they wrapped her in cotton wool and put her in the Yorkie Range oven. Then I thought that our grandchildren (particularly living in Australia) would have no idea what I was talking about. So I went on the internet using google and discovered that the Yorkshire Range Company is actually making and suppliyng these for homes today (there is a love affair in Britain it seems with things old - we couldn't wait to pull all these things out now it actually adds value to ones house. Anyway I got my pictures and you can have one of these ranges in your home if you wish. I had a friend whose mother made Yorkshire puddings in her fire oven and I loved them although they weren't light and fluffy. It made me think how did our ancestors cook before gas or electricity in the homes, so I tried google again to see when cooking appliances were made available and I found this a bit too hard so I wondered if any of you have explored this and can give me some ideas. I feel that we are the custodians of our culture and need to pass it on. I watch UK TV programmes like "escape to the country", property ladders" etc and it is an education in itself. English people generally don't like bungalows and spend a lot of time worrying about where the bathroom should go i.e. upstairs or down (our first home didn't have indoor toilet let alone a bathroom, we had one tap). Where I live it is rare to find a two story house and even rarer to find a terrace of houses. There are some in the Eastern States but land was just so available that it was easy to build detached one level homes. Our rooms seem larger too when they give dimensions instead of just showing us the wide angle lenses. I've had my geography improved so much watching these programmes now I need to brush up on my history. I know we had ancestors working in the gas industry in the late 1800s but I think it was available in homes much earlier than that. Jean in S. Australia.

Hi even today you find various ranges, often with double functions warming up the oven and the hot plate above(kettle, pans etc) and then on to a "back boiler" to warm up the hot water tank+radiators. They burn coal or coke in most but those in Ireland use turf from the turf bogs. To get the oven warm there is in most a handle that opens the hot air route around the oven, if we needed to get it warmed up quickly we would burn a good deal of dry twiggs. Very effective, and relative economic, in comparrison with gas and electricity, BUT and it is a big BUT they need cleaning, a task that could take all morning. Most fire places had a ledge sitting out where one could put a kettle for tea. Then there was the delight of the toasting fork, fire blazing in the hearth, and sitting before it slice at a time side at a time one would toast bread. For times before the 1900's there is a TV program about how cooking was done in those times. My experiences are from the late forties early fifties. regards Terry Norway > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected]; [email protected] > Date: Sun, 14 Feb 2010 13:25:46 +1030 > Subject: Re: [WRY] Need help with background information > > I am trying to put all the facts and information I have with my Ellam family > history and I am using Publisher to try to make it more interesting to our > descendents. I have learned quite a bit about my husband's grandparents > from the census and war records and marriage certificates etc so I am trying > to record all this and add personal memories. > > I wrote about how my mother-in-law was born at home (I even know which home > thanks to the 1911 census) and I told the story how she was one of a twin > which died at birth and she was very tiny and they wrapped her in cotton > wool and put her in the Yorkie Range oven. Then I thought that our > grandchildren (particularly living in Australia) would have no idea what I > was talking about. So I went on the internet using google and discovered > that the Yorkshire Range Company is actually making and suppliyng these for > homes today (there is a love affair in Britain it seems with things old - we > couldn't wait to pull all these things out now it actually adds value to > ones house. Anyway I got my pictures and you can have one of these ranges > in your home if you wish. I had a friend whose mother made Yorkshire > puddings in her fire oven and I loved them although they weren't light and > fluffy. > > It made me think how did our ancestors cook before gas or electricity in the > homes, so I tried google again to see when cooking appliances were made > available and I found this a bit too hard so I wondered if any of you have > explored this and can give me some ideas. > > I feel that we are the custodians of our culture and need to pass it on. I > watch UK TV programmes like "escape to the country", property ladders" etc > and it is an education in itself. English people generally don't like > bungalows and spend a lot of time worrying about where the bathroom should > go i.e. upstairs or down (our first home didn't have indoor toilet let alone > a bathroom, we had one tap). Where I live it is rare to find a two story > house and even rarer to find a terrace of houses. There are some in the > Eastern States but land was just so available that it was easy to build > detached one level homes. Our rooms seem larger too when they give > dimensions instead of just showing us the wide angle lenses. I've had my > geography improved so much watching these programmes now I need to brush up > on my history. > > I know we had ancestors working in the gas industry in the late 1800s but I > think it was available in homes much earlier than that. > > Jean in S. Australia. > > > > > Some useful websites - > FREECEN - http://www.freecen.org.uk/ > FREEBMD - http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/ > Want to know where a place in Yorkshire is - Try Genuki > http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail: Trusted email with powerful SPAM protection. https://signup.live.com/signup.aspx?id=60969

Hi Jean You might find the TV series 'The 1900 House' interesting. It is available on 4OD - just hope viewing isn't limited to UK residents. Try here... http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-1900-house/4od#2922731 This is about a house in London, so a bit different from those in Yorkshire. My husband's grandmother used to live in one of the Huddersfield 'back to back' houses when she was a child - it's still there, with people living in it, but the communal toilet in the back yard has gone, so I guess they now have their own inside bathrooms. There's also the 'Victorian Farm' series on the BBC, but that's about country life, so VERY different from the town life you talk about. I think this may be available on DVD as it's no longer on the BBC iPlayer. When we last went to the Science Museum in London they had a brilliant display of household appliances through the ages. There's some information on their website, particularly here about Gas and Electicity http://www.makingthemodernworld.org.uk/stories/the_rise_of_consumerism/02.ST .03/?scene=3 I don't think gas was used for cooking for quite a while. It was used for lighting. We found an old gas mantle box under the floorboards of our terrace house which was built about 1910. There was a cast iron solid fuel boiler in the kitchen when we moved in, but it wasn't the sort used for cooking. Of course this may well have been updated at some time from the original range. My mother cooked on an electric stove when I was a child in the sixties - and the water was heated by little electric cylinders in the kitchen and bathroom. The only heating was from coal fires. In about 1970 we moved to a house with a solid fuel boiler, but this only heated the water, and we had a couple of 'night storage heaters' (electric) to *heat* the house, but they weren't much good. There aren't many home births nowadays. I had my son at home in 1997, but that was quite unusual. Fortunately he's a hearty chap so didn't need to be put in the range ;-) When he was little, if anyone asked him where he was born, he always replied 'In the Dining Room' rather than the name of the town. Best wishes Kate in Devon > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:west-riding- > [email protected]] On Behalf Of jean and terry > Sent: 14 February 2010 02:56 > To: [email protected]; [email protected] > Subject: Re: [WRY] Need help with background information > > I am trying to put all the facts and information I have with my Ellam > family > history and I am using Publisher to try to make it more interesting to > our > descendents. I have learned quite a bit about my husband's > grandparents > from the census and war records and marriage certificates etc so I am > trying > to record all this and add personal memories. > > I wrote about how my mother-in-law was born at home (I even know which > home > thanks to the 1911 census) and I told the story how she was one of a > twin > which died at birth and she was very tiny and they wrapped her in > cotton > wool and put her in the Yorkie Range oven. Then I thought that our > grandchildren (particularly living in Australia) would have no idea > what I > was talking about. So I went on the internet using google and > discovered > that the Yorkshire Range Company is actually making and suppliyng these > for > homes today (there is a love affair in Britain it seems with things old > - we > couldn't wait to pull all these things out now it actually adds value > to > ones house. Anyway I got my pictures and you can have one of these > ranges > in your home if you wish. I had a friend whose mother made Yorkshire > puddings in her fire oven and I loved them although they weren't light > and > fluffy. > > It made me think how did our ancestors cook before gas or electricity > in the > homes, so I tried google again to see when cooking appliances were made > available and I found this a bit too hard so I wondered if any of you > have > explored this and can give me some ideas. > > I feel that we are the custodians of our culture and need to pass it > on. I > watch UK TV programmes like "escape to the country", property ladders" > etc > and it is an education in itself. English people generally don't like > bungalows and spend a lot of time worrying about where the bathroom > should > go i.e. upstairs or down (our first home didn't have indoor toilet let > alone > a bathroom, we had one tap). Where I live it is rare to find a two > story > house and even rarer to find a terrace of houses. There are some in > the > Eastern States but land was just so available that it was easy to build > detached one level homes. Our rooms seem larger too when they give > dimensions instead of just showing us the wide angle lenses. I've had > my > geography improved so much watching these programmes now I need to > brush up > on my history. > > I know we had ancestors working in the gas industry in the late 1800s > but I > think it was available in homes much earlier than that. > > Jean in S. Australia. > > > > > Some useful websites - > FREECEN - http://www.freecen.org.uk/ > FREEBMD - http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/ > Want to know where a place in Yorkshire is - Try Genuki > http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to WEST-RIDING- > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in > the subject and the body of the message