Walk Down the Street

Maps are an important part of documenting a family. When they are published during the time a family resided in an area, it is especially enlightening. The following map is a cropped version of the 1834 Cheltenham and Vicinity map that was shared on this blog's first post.[1] The various highlights show locations where documented events took place involving the Hobbs family. These include the streets where they lived, the church where William and Ann's marriage occurred, and where their children were christened. Also highlighted is the New Burial Ground where William Hobbs was buried in 1846 and the market square.[2]

The location of the Old Cherry Tree beer house that William Hobbs owned remained unclear until a little more digging in the Cheltenham Chronicle turned up some answers. It appears the Old Cherry Tree was located on White Hart Street.[3] Ann Hobbs was enumerated on White Hart Street in 1861.[4] It is not certain if this was the same location as the Old Cherry Tree. She was reported to have sold the beer house shortly after William's death.[5]

Mr. Robert Hanks, beer-house keeper, Old Cherry Tree, near the Workhouse, White Hart Row. Application withdrawn.

Hanks--June 11, at the Old Cherry Tree, White Hart Street, aged 59, Mrs. Harriet Hanks.

This Cheltenham map created on Google Maps shows what the city looks like today. Markers have been placed on the locations of interest for the William Hobbs family. Find the same locations on Google Earth's street view to see three-dimensional ground views of the buildings and landscape. Simply drop the human icon onto a desired location for 360 degrees of incredible views of Cheltenham. The icon can be moved down a street to simulate walking down present day streets. This is especially interesting to do on Park Street as the houses appear to be the same type of row houses that were drawn in on Park Street during the illustration of the 1834 map. A few modernizations are noticeable but for the most part, it looks much like it must have looked when the Hobbs lived there.

One location is not viewable in a three-dimensional format. St. Mary's Church has not been digitized by street cameras. The human icon can be moved right to the property's edge to see into the graveyard, but that is all that is accessible. The church steeple can be seen over some treetops but for the most part the church building is obscured by the trees.

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[1] “This Plan of the Town of Cheltenham, and Its Vicinity,” Map, (Bristol: Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, 1997), BYU Harold B. Lee Library, G 5754 .C4 1834 .M47x. 

[2] Church of England, Diocese of Gloucester (Gloucestershire, England), Bishops Transcripts for the Diocese of Gloucester, 1813-1909, A-Ch 1846,  FHL microfilm #394357, burial of William Hobbs, 7 Sep 1846.

[3] "Cheltenham Police Court," 2 Sep 1856, Cheltenham Chronicle, British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk accessed 9 Oct 2015); "Deaths," 14 Jun 1859, Cheltenham Chronicle, British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk accessed 9 Oct 2015).

[4] 1861 England Census, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire; Civil Parish Cheltenham, Ecclesiastical parish St. Peter, ED 16, p. 17, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com: accessed 18 October 2013), Ann Hobbs household.

[5] DeEsta Hobbs Naylor, "Ann Owen," FamilySearch, (www.familysearch.org accessed 3 October 2015), citing Family Tree, memorial story, Ann Owen, KWJ7-Y9Y.