The internet is amazing!

Well! I have been volunteering at the museum in Carleton Place on Monday mornings. It has renewed my interest in researching houses in town, and in taking more "before and after" photos. This morning I googled Carleton Place images, and while scrolling down found this photograph of a woman named Charlotte Burgess (nee Weekes).

Recognize the name? She and her husband Thomas owned our house from 1886 until 1902. I wrote a post about them a while back. I didn't have the complete story though. The 1901 Census did not list all of their children.

This is Charlotte and her husband Thomas Taylor Burgess.

From the Perth Courier: "Married at the residence of the bride's father, on the 23rd Jan. 1877, by Rev. A.L. Peterson, Mr. Thomas Burgess of Carleton Place, to Miss Charlotte (Weekes), third daughter of Mr. E.F. Weekes of Lombardy."

They had seven children: Mary Jane, Lawrence, Maud, Bella (1887), Florence (1885), Loretta (1881) and Melvin (1890).


Here is Thomas again. He was a section foreman for the CPR. His brother Nathaniel lived with his family just around the corner on Brick Street.

So cool.

What a great idea!

I have never posted twice in one day, but this excited me!!

Someone sent me a link to a group of photos that take the "before and after" idea one step further...it is on Flicker as "Looking Into The Past", but I can't seem to link it here!!?? Help?

I was so excited to try it that I grabbed the one old photo we have of our house and ran outside to try this out....

It's much harder than you think to get everything lined up correctly. You really can't see properly while peering at the screen on your camera, with the sun shining. But anyway, it is still cool!

This is our street, looking up towards Lake Ave. today . Can't really see much for the trees and bushes...



This photo was taken c. 1950. It is of a boy who lived two doors down from us, and given to me by his brother a few years ago. Our house is the middle one, with the big tree in front. I learned two things from this picture. One, the living room window was a bay window at this time. I wouldn't think that would have been original to the 1886 house. Two, the front porch (in 1950 anyway), was not at all what I had pictured. My guess is that this porch was not original to 1886 either. Poor house.