Land of my birth

Clare Seren

Registered User
Jan 31, 2012
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#1
Hello Hamilton Beach Community. My name is Clare and Iwas born in Hamilton Ontario in the late fifties. I live on the beautiful small island of Anglesey in North Wales UK. i am planning to visit Canada in 2013/14 and decided to join your forum to get a feel for what the community where I was born is like today. Scott has told me I likely lived in the Burlington area as my parents have said we lived on the edge of Lake Ontario and that where we lived no longer exists as a bridge was built there. Both my parents are no longer with us and I have no extended family to ask about other information. As we get older I guess we often start to dwell on what our roots where and are and throughout my life I have always wanted to return to my birthplace. I have never had the means or opportunity until now so I am really looking forward to my visit.
So I will be dropping into this forum every now and then to get a feel for the real place and not just what the tourist industry wants to sell me! The little bit I have read tells me that wherever you live people seem to have the same concerns and interests whatever country they are from.
If any one is interested in North Wales, either because family members hail from here or ancestors came from N Wales I would be more than happy to tell them what I know .
I would like to get hold of a publication dealing with a potted history of Hamilton and would be grateful for any suggestions.Diolch Yn Fawr (Thank you very much)
 

scotto

Administrator
Staff member
Feb 15, 2004
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The Beach Strip
#3
Hi Clare;
Welcome to the Beach Forum, I assumed you lived on the Burlington side of the canal because it was the only residential area near the canal that had all the homes (cottages) removed. I must been a little short on info for the bridge, the bridge was pretty well always there but it was twin bascule bridges. The north span was hit by a ship in 1952 and a temporary span was built.
Ships could only use the south side of the canal.
This created huge traffic backlogs and the Skyway Bridge was built to escape the line ups.
In 1962 the new liftbridge opened replacing the old bascule bridge.
Anyway, best of luck on your vacation and hopefully you make it to the Beach.

This website shows most of the old cottages;
http://josephhollick.hubpages.com/hub/Burlington-Beach-Strip-Cottages
 

Drogo

Moderator
Feb 8, 2005
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#4
Clare
Welcome to the group. If you have a maiden name and would give it to us someone may know of the family and be able to pinpoint the area they lived in. I'm a genealogy buff and study local history so my brain just works that way. Any little bit of information you heard might just be what tips the scales. Lots of us are still alive and kicking from the '50s. LOL
 

Clare Seren

Registered User
Jan 31, 2012
5
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#5
Hi Drogo
Thanks for your response I was delighted to receive it.
I was born 9 Sep 1957 as Margaret Clare Bestel together with my twin brother Mark
Siblings were brother Brian born 11Oct 1958 and sister Andrea born 30.Nov 1961
Mother was Rosa Bestel nee Carrol born 3 Jun 1922 Liverpool England and father was Armand Nicles Bestel born 27 Aug 1925 South Shields England. My parents were married in Hamilton Canada Apr 1957. Honeymooned at Niagara falls.
My father emigrated to Canada when he was 12 together with his mother Lavinia and brother Bobby and sister Winifred. Lavinia remarried whist in Canada to Bill Ainscow. Don't have the date of their marriage.
Both Bill and Lavinia worked as resident ships entertainers for the cruise company Cunard. Lavinia lived in Vancouver as far as I know and had a second home in Southport Liverpool. Bobby was in the Canadian Air Force during the war and I think may have been killed in the war.
My father went to Hamilton for work I presume and amongst his many jobs were factory work (no details available) and as a Saw Doctor.
My mother came to Canada on a teacher exchange programme after the war and taught in a small school in the Hamilton area. Her pupils were of mixed ages and mostly from farming stock. She did tell me they were very poor children and really just wanted to be home helping out on the farm. My family were Catholic and I suspect that mum gave up working when she got married.
Well that is a potted version although I don't have much else to say about my family. Details are rather sketchy I am afraid. Good luck with what I have been able to send you.
Many thanks
Clare
 

Drogo

Moderator
Feb 8, 2005
402
2
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#6
Clare
I was hoping someone would say I know where the Bestel family lived but so far they haven't. I will look up some resources and see if I can find where the house was.
 

scotto

Administrator
Staff member
Feb 15, 2004
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The Beach Strip
#7
Clare
I was hoping someone would say I know where the Bestel family lived but so far they haven't. I will look up some resources and see if I can find where the house was.
If you mean while on the Beach, I don't think Clare remembers the exact house, only that it is now gone and near the bridge. As I wrote earlier, I would think that she was living in the cottages that use to be on the east side of the railway tracks.
But that is just a guess, there were a lot of houses demolished on the Hamilton side when the City had grand plans for a park.
 

Clare Seren

Registered User
Jan 31, 2012
5
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0
#8
If it is any help hubby and I dug out the photographs from the loft (attic) this evening and have gone through all the Canadian ones we have. Having been on Google earth and using the premise that I may have lived in the Burlington area with the limited knowledge we have we think that Scott may well be correct.
We have a number of transparancies taken about 1959 which show me and my siblings playing on the sandy beach area outside our home. To the right some distance away there is what appears to be an elongated pier of some type although it is not clear what exactly it is' but if it some type of structure (perhaps a bridge) and with the position of the sun and the approx time of day that it appears to be it would make sense that we were on the beach stretching from south to north. Therefore we would be in the Burlington area.
I do have some images of the rear of the house and power towers can be seen when facing towards the front of the house, running parallel to the house although they are mostly obscured by homes on the opposite side of the road. The house has quite a wide veranda which appears to run around the whole of the building or at the very least 2 sides of it. The houses are not exactly right next to the power lines but we are not talking about them being miles away. Where there power lines running alongside the rail tracks?
When I can work out how to send these images I will try to do this. But this may take some time.
 

scotto

Administrator
Staff member
Feb 15, 2004
6,985
218
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The Beach Strip
#9
If it is any help hubby and I dug out the photographs from the loft (attic) this evening and have gone through all the Canadian ones we have. We have a number of transparancies taken about 1959 which show me and my siblings playing on the sandy beach area outside our home. To the right some distance away there is what appears to be an elongated pier of some type although it is not clear what exactly it is'
Hi Clare;
Any chance that you could post a few of those pics? I would like to see them.

As for "transparancies", do you mean the negatives? If so which size are they, 35mm?
 

scotto

Administrator
Staff member
Feb 15, 2004
6,985
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The Beach Strip
#10
I do have some images of the rear of the house and power towers can be seen when facing towards the front of the house, running parallel to the house although they are mostly obscured by homes on the opposite side of the road. The house has quite a wide veranda which appears to run around the whole of the building or at the very least 2 sides of it. The houses are not exactly right next to the power lines but we are not talking about them being miles away. Where there power lines running alongside the rail tracks?
When I can work out how to send these images I will try to do this. But this may take some time.
Clare;
Yes the power lines and the tracks ran parallel to each other and there still could been power (we still call them hydro lines) lines on the harbour side.
And you lived in a house with a large two sided veranda, that would pretty well not have you living in the cottages where I thought you where. There were many large homes that were removed by the City on the Hamilton side, these were the homes of a past generation of the well to do. Then once it became easier to head the northern lakes and beaches, they left.
There were on a few of these on the Burlington side, but quite common on the Hamilton side, I grew up in one that was located were Dieppe Park is now.
I would like to see a few pics if possible and maybe we can pin point which house it was.
 

Fred Briggs

Beach History Moderator
May 27, 2004
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Stoney Creek
hamiltonbeachcommunity.com
#11
I don't know if the first attempt went out or not. I always have trouble with this box because I use the Tab for a new paragraph and that seems to send this message, or at least cancel it!
I can scan transparencies up to 8" X 10", negatives, or prints of any size. Clare, you could mail all the pictures of the Beach to Scotto, who could pass them on to me physically, or you could send them directly to me. You can see my own web site at http://beachvideo.ca and there is an icon for my email address at the bottom of that page. The email address is fredbriggs@cogeco.ca. You could email me and I could email you my snail mail address and you could snail mail them all to me. I could scan them all, pass them all on to Scotto, and to you, and snail mail your pictures back to you.
I might even recognize your house, but it's very unlikely that we ever met as I moved off the Beach in 1953, but I was on the Beach very frequently because I was a Sea Scout Leader there till 1967, and some of my Sea Scouts lived across the Canal, on the North Side, or Burlington side, on the Bay or Harbour side
Fred Briggs
 

Clare Seren

Registered User
Jan 31, 2012
5
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0
#12
Hi Fred

I need to ask my family if I can send the slides to you by snail mail before I can agree to this. I am looking into trying to copy them to more modern image format and will let you know when I manage this, but thank you for the offer. I will let you know as soon as I can.

Clare
 

Clare Seren

Registered User
Jan 31, 2012
5
0
0
#13
Hi Clare;
Any chance that you could post a few of those pics? I would like to see them.

As for "transparancies", do you mean the negatives? If so which size are they, 35mm?
Yes Scott they are 35mm - the type you show on a slide projector, although I do have a few black and white prints.
I have to own up to not knowing how to post photographs and am still getting past the first post of scanning them. As soon as I am up to speed I will post them.
Any clues you could offer how to place them in a posting on this forum would be appreciated.

Clare
 

scotto

Administrator
Staff member
Feb 15, 2004
6,985
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The Beach Strip
#14
Yes Scott they are 35mm - the type you show on a slide projector, although I do have a few black and white prints.
I have to own up to not knowing how to post photographs and am still getting past the first post of scanning them. As soon as I am up to speed I will post them.
Any clues you could offer how to place them in a posting on this forum would be appreciated.

Clare
Clare;
You can post any picture in the manage attachments below while replying to a post or email them to me and I can do it for you.
Do you have any that show the front of your old house?
 

David O'Reilly

Registered User
Dec 15, 2012
481
4
18
#15
Drogo

If you have a maiden name and would give it to us someone may know of the family and be able to pinpoint the area they lived in. if you get the maiden name, maybe you could find it and the street address in old telephone books at the Hamilton Public Library's LocalHistory and Archives Department.
Clare
Welcome to the group. If you have a maiden name and would give it to us someone may know of the family and be able to pinpoint the area they lived in. I'm a genealogy buff and study local history so my brain just works that way. Any little bit of information you heard might just be what tips the scales. Lots of us are still alive and kicking from the '50s. LOL
 

David O'Reilly

Registered User
Dec 15, 2012
481
4
18
#16
Drogo, I didn't make my last post very clear, so I'll try again. Claire says she was borne in 1957, and her maiden name was Bestel, and her father's name was 'Armand'. so the telephone books for 1957 in the Hamilton and Burlington libraries' Local History and Archives Departments, should determine whether the family lived in Hamilton or Burlington. I.E. which part of the beach.
 

Drogo

Moderator
Feb 8, 2005
402
2
18
#17
I did this once but have no idea where the reply ended up. It's not on the thread.

In 1949 Armand Bestel was a single spray painter living at 204 Charleton Ave. E., Hamilton, Ontario. He shared the residence with Lavinia and Wm Ainscow and Lyle and Blanche Brooks.

In 1958 Armand and Rosa lived at 18 Province St. N , Hamilton Ontario. He was a Club Steward and shared the residence with Michael and Olga Budz.

Both of the above come from the Hamilton Voter's Lists.
 
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