Hints of Personality

One of the most frustrating things to deal with in genealogy is the lack of a human dimension for the people in a tree.  For that reason finding a hint of what a person was like is a precious gift.

I was recently searching for information on Mrs. William Halls (Emma Tanton) of Dolton, Devon, when I came across information on her husband, William Halls.  I had known that the family was religious, having converted from being Anglican to being Bible Christians, and I knew that the times were more religious than our own current time but I was not expecting what I found on page 283 of the 1869 edition of The Bible Christian Magazine, a very short snippet about William Halls offering the opening prayer at the Sabbath School Conference in Hatherleigh, "The conference was opened with singing and prayer, the latter being offered with peculiar fervour and power by Mr W. Halls."

That was it.  A precious glimpse of the kind of person William Halls was.  Involved in his church community.  A notable speaker.  And more devout than might be expected of the time and place.

Barlands House

I was out surfing the web, looking to see if anyone had posted family pictures or something of interest from the Merton to Dolton area of Devon.  Imagine my surprise to see that Barland House is for sale!  Barland House was the residence of William and his son Samuel Halls for a period of at least ten years between 1891 and 1901.  I never thought I would have the chance to see pictures of the interior.  The asking price is just shy of 800,000 pounds.  If you would like to see the listing it is at Zoopla, a real estate sales site.

This photo was taken sometime prior to 1930.  Note the contrast to the modern photo taken sometime in the past year.

As you can see the sunroom has been remodeled over the years and now extends past the window on its left.  In addition the lawn has undergone extensive infill/regrading and the steps to the lower lawn have been removed.  Finally, there seems to have been an extension or addition at the right of the house.

The front hall seems to have preserved much of the original woodwork of the bannister going up to the second floor.

All in all a very nice looking place.  A pity I don't have a spare 800,000 pounds about to buy it.

Google Streetview

You might think that talking about something like Google Street View would have nothing to do with genealogy, but you would be wrong. The range of places that Google Street View has made available to people is staggering. While the coverage varies from area to area, it is still quite impressive.

One of my favourite Street View pastimes is to wander the country lanes of north Devon. You can see old buildings and churches, often the inscriptions on the sides of buildings are visible, as are road signs, addresses and so on.

I took me a while, but I found Barland House in Dolton, Devon, on Google Street View. It's not that the image wasn't on Street View, but that I didn't know exactly where in Dolton Barland House was.

Here is a picture of Barland House taken circa 1900











Here is a Google Streetview picture of Barland House taken in the past few years, but from Rectory Rd.

If you click on the image you can see the sign on the fence in the lower right of the picture, it says "Barlands".

You can find Street View in Google Maps just look for the little gold coloured man in the upper left corner. Not every place has been "Street Viewed" by Google, but lots have. If you haven't tried Street View yet to see places your ancestors lived, you definitely should.

Reflections on Annie Halls and Emma Tanton

A few days ago I found a picture from North Dakota that has Annie Halls, and (probably) her brother Philip Halls in it. I had been to the Digital Horizons site before and not found anything, but this time, poof! There is was. It was a group picture of ND pioneers taken back in July of 1939 during a picnic. To be honest, they all look rather wilted by the heat.

On the other side of the world, 29 years prior to that picnic in the summer of 1939 is a picture of Emma Tanton, widow of Samuel Halls. In this case it is a stone laying ceremony for the local Baptist manse in Dolton, Devon. The picture appears to be taken on a cool day, and there are leaves on the trees and bushes. In so many ways the complete opposite of the North Dakota picture. A secular vs religious gathering. Warm vs cold. England vs America. Sunset of empire vs dawn of empire.

It leads one to reflect on the lives of Annie and Emma. Both pictures are taken not long before the World Wars. Annie lived to know that the Allies had won both wars, but Emma died in January of 1918 while issue was still in doubt. Emma had the added burden of fearing for the life of a child. She never knew if William James Halls survived the Great War, though I know he did. Annie never married or had children, though she took in at least two foster children/orphans. One of them may have fought in the WWI, but I can't find him.

I wonder if they knew of each other, and what they might have thought of their respective lives if they did. I suspect there was some contact between the families, for long involved genealogical reasons I won't get into here. They were both, in their ways, successful. Most likely they were well thought of by their communities. Certainly they lived very different lives. Emma lead a life that was secure, as far as I can tell from my place 100 year later. She did all the things a good English middle class woman should have done. Married, had children, supported her church. Her husband Samuel appears to have done much the same. Married, had children, supported his church. He followed in his father's and grandfather's footsteps, becoming a mason and builder, and generally supporting English society.

Annie did not follow a life path like that of Emma, or her cousin Samuel. She left her home in Ontario about 1900 and went to North Dakota. In Ontario she could have married, had children, and lead a quiet, comfortable life, with minimal hardship. Instead she chose to leave for an area that was still largely unsettled. She became a farmer, and never married or had children. One wonders why she made the choices she did, what she thought of the world she lived to see. She was born before airplanes, and lived to see men go into space.

In the end, I suppose I will always wonder. The chances of finding letters that give me insight into their personalities are small. On the other hand, Charlotte Halls has a letter posted to the Canadian Letters and Images Project, so there is always hope.