"Graham's Land" Strathbungo

[demure57]

Hi Everyone,

My name's Dave, and I'm a newbie. Hope you can help.

In the 1851 census record, my ancestor is listed as living in "Graham's Land",
Parish of Govan, Village of Strathbungo.
I've studied loads of old maps of the area from this period and no sign of any
"Graham's Land". Any ideas............??

[StewL]

Hello Demure 57

Hopefully someone will come along with more knowledge about the area in Govan you are seeking

[Russell]

Hi Dave
Have you explored the FreeCen transcripts for 1841 and 1851. When you enter a surname and fore name you can explore the various families which come up. Once you identify the correct one you can move between their address and previous/ following households which may give you clues as to where in Strathbungo they were.
Govan was a parish of small farms, small estates and was quite spread out in 1841. Part of the parish lay on the north side of the river Clyde and stretched all the way to Anniesland (you can see how land ownership often resulted in a property being named after you)
By 1851 Govan was still a discrete parish, Glasgow had not yet encroached to swallow it up !. Shipyards were being established along the Clyde and lots of houses were being built to accommodate the yard workers so someone called Graham purchased land and built a house(es). Some streets had not been named and giving a house a number was an idea still to be introduced.
The village I live in had a property purchased by the Barr family in around 1841 which was referred to as "Barr's Land". They built a house and grocery shop which was still owned by the same family 150 years later. Owning a small plot of land was uncommon until the 1800's. Most land/properties were rented before this.
If your search doesn't clarify things give us some names and dates to work with and you will keep a few folk out of mischief for a while

Russell

[demure57]

Hi Chaps.....thanks for the welcome

.......and thank you Russell for the tip on FreeCEN. Wish I'd known about this weeks ago. Would have saved me a
fortune in credits on SP. The great thing about it is that you can study your ancestors environment and circumstances from having access to all their neighbours data. Seeing things in context can really open up your perception of their lives.
You're absolutely spot-on about the addressing system (or, lack of it) at this time. Outside Strathbungo Village, there were several housing blocks. All named (presumably) after their owners:
Storie's Land, Graham's Land, Hunter's Land, Tosh's Land, Wallace's Land ....etc.....etc.....

I spent a good 3 hours going through the whole village. Amazing to see such a cross-section of people and professions (some of which I'd never heard of before)...........Wot on earth is a "portioner"
Awrabest.................Dave.

[WilmaM]

Wot on earth is a "portioner"

portioner
noun por·tion·er \-sh(ə)nə(r)\
: one that portions or has a portion: such as
a Scots law : the owner of a portion of a decedent's estate :