Trove Tuesday - A Modern Kitchen

Today the GeniAus family is having a new kitchen installed. While some of the finishes in the new kitchen are different many of the features are similar to those in this Modern 1940 kitchen.

1940 'MODERN KITCHEN', Northern Star (Lismore, NSW : 1876 - 1954), 24 April, p. 10. , viewed 08 Jun 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article95505629

Text:
MODERN KITCHEN

To keep the kitchen spotless has always entailed endless
work for the average housewife. In the kitchen there are
many acids and corrosives which are a danger to the ordinary
enamel fittings, such as sinks, drainers, stoves, etc.

The kitchen illustrated provides a solution to the home builder
who desires comfort and utility in his kitchen.The sink is of stain-
less steel cast in one piece with a continuous draining board, while
the end benches with cupboards under have stainless steel tops of
mirror finish.

The fronts of sinks and cupboards are faced with acid resisting
sheet porcelain enamel, with doors flushed face to match. The elec-
tric stove is recessed in the wall and has its own electric exhaust
ing fan for fumes and gas exhaust and is carried out in porcelain
to match cupboards.

Walls round sinks and stove are tiled in deep cream tiles with
jade green inlay bands, whilst the floor is covered with strip jade
green rubber covering. Elevated cupboards over drainers allow space
for crockery storage with flush faced fronts, and all fittings, in-
cluding refrigerator, are so placed to allow of good circulation and
a minimum amount of walking during the working of the kitchen.

Cream Venetian blinds cover the long low window and complete
a scheme of which the housewife should be proud.

Located in Scotland

Mr GeniAus' mother had a photo of a handsome Victorian stone house in her collection which she believed was the home of her Gowans Grandparents in Hawick in the Borders area of Scotland.

We knew from the censuses that the Gowans lived at 1 High Street, Hawick so in 2004, on our first visit to the town, we headed to High Street where we found, at number one, a shop and residence that bore no resemblance to the handsome home in our photo. We then surmised that the family may have lived away from the watch and clockmaking and confectionery businesses that they conducted at 1 High Street (even though the censuses recorded the family as living at the High Street premises).

1 High Street, Hawick - 2004

We left a copy of a photo of the handsome house with the folk in the local Heritage Centre in Hawick and they promised to ask around to see if any of the locals could identify it. A few weeks later we got a response that no-one recognised the house and that the locals felt that it was not a Hawick building.

Several years later Mr GeniAus realised that his ancestor James Gowans lived with family members in and around Glasgow in his old age. Mr GeniAus thought perhaps James' daughter's residence, Overwood House in Glasgow Road, Paisley may be the subject of the picture. He consulted Google Maps and after looking at properties in the vicinity thought this likely as buildings in the area were of a similar style and age.

The Handsome House

Notes on the back of the photo

High on Mr GeniAus' list for our forthcoming visit to Scotland was tracking down the house so last week he decided to delve a little further.  He contacted a Paisley Group where a lovely lady called Mags MacGee took an interest in the case. She posted our photo of the house on a Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/Paisleyscotlamd/  and several members chimed in with comments.

We learnt that Overwood House had been demolished. One smart chap did something we hadn't thought to do. He blew the photo up to look for clues and deduced that, on the gatepost, there was a number and a name starting with Cop. As our copy of the photo is of a higher resolution I then took a look and saw the number 279 and worked out that the house name was Copshaw which is a village near Hawick. Ah, I thought the house must be in the vicinity of Hawick.

Zoomed in on the Gatepos

I popped 279 and Copshaw into my Google search box and was rewarded with two hits that listed a house named Copshaw at 279 Nithsdale Road, Glasgow

The resident listed was William Fairley Smith whom I immediately recognised as the husband of another daughter of James, Isabella Purves Gowans. On the back of the photo is a reference to Kathleen's bedroom, William and Isabella had a daughter by that name! We now presume that Isabella had sent this postcard to her brother, Mr GeniAus' Great-Grandfather William Purves Gowans, who was living in Australia.

When we logged back onto Google Maps Streetview we were pleased to discover that 279 Nithsdale Road is still standing and from comparing the stonework and decorations on the building we know we have solved a 30 year old mystery.

We have sent a copy of our photo to the owners of the house alerting them that we will be driving up and down their road to look at their house when we visit in the next few months.

Trove Tuesday - Can't share this one

As many new resources have been added to Trove since I did some serious searching on my maiden name, Curry, I thought I would see if I could dredge up anything new on my ancestors this week.

As my first Curry ancestor, Patrick the convict, settled in the Camden area I started with a simple search for Curry Camden. I was rewarded with a couple of photographs. One that interested me was a photo of a distant Curry relation's home in Elderslie near Camden.

Sadly I can look at the image of Trevor Curry's abode but I cannot copy and share it because the copyright statement says "This photo may be copied for personal use. For all other purposes permission of the holder of copyright must be obtained." . As I'm not sure if  adding a photo to a blog post  is considered personal use I will refrain from posting it.

What I can tell you is that it belongs to a set of photos from The Camden Images Past and Present Collection at the Camden Library that can be searched via Trove.

If you replicate my search on Trove you will be able to view the image too.

New Archives in Brief 116

Researching your house and property

Useful guide for those researching the history of a house or property in NSW.