Jamison Garage on Shore Road Belfast- Updated Picture(s)

I talked about the most recent picture I had of the family garage on the Shore Road, Belfast in a previous post ; the picture from the 1950’s was sourced from the Belfast Forum, an invaluable source of history, pictures and local knowledge for all things Belfast; there’s a particularly great (and very long!) thread about Belfast’s Shore Road: you need to create an account to comment or post, but it’s well worth it if you have any interest in past or present Belfast.

I stay in touch with some of the posters on the forum, one of whom posted the picture below of the garage, sandwiched between 265 and 269 Shore Road; the picture was taken from a video still filmed sometime in the mid to late 1960s.

265-269 Shore Rd approx 1966

You can see no.269 Shore Road most clearly; this was the left hand of the two houses that sat on their own on the corner of Oakmount Drive.

The opening between the two houses was the entrance to the car repair garage, at the rear of the buildings. I lived in no. 265 (just out of shot on the right-hand side of the picture) until around 1975. We have no family pictures of the houses or the garage, so I’m very grateful for any images that turn up online, and for those people kind enough to alert me to them.

The picture is also interesting as it shows a passing trolleybus, the number 10 which travelled along Shore Road to Whitewell Road, near the zoo. The trolleybus network closed down in Belfast in 1968 so we know the picture predates this. The trolleybuses had disappeared by the time we lived at 265, but otherwise very little had changed from the picture taken in the mid’60s.

Google map of the area now:

With thanks to Tommy and Jimmy for these and some other fanstastic pictures from the Shore Road area. If anyone has more pictures of the garage or houses at 265-269 Shore Road, please do get in touch, I would be delighted to see them!

UPDATE

Jimmy posted the video of the Shore Road to Youtube that the above picture was grabbed from; I’m writing another post for that, but I managed to get a still showing the right-hand house that we lived in, no. 265:

 

And here they are together:

 

 

 

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Desperately Seeking Hilda…

When one of my Jamison cousins reconnected with me recently  I was able to add to my treasure trove of pictures of my aunts and uncles when they were younger. As well as some cracking pictures of his mum, Richard sent me two pictures of my aunt Hilda as a young woman.

This was great for two reasons; the only pictures I had of Hilda previously were a couple taken probably in the late 60s/early 70’s, going by the fabulously retro decor:

Franics Todd and Hilda Todd, nee Jamison

Hilda Todd nee Jamison

Now I have a couple of pictures of younger Hilda, possibly taken in Northern Ireland – I suspect the two pictures above may have been taken after Hilda and her husband Francis moved to Canada.

Hilda Jamison (date unknown)

Hilda Jamison (date unknown)

Hilda was one of three Jamison daughters, siblings to my dad. My grandmother Eliza did have another two daughters by her first husband; I mention this marriage here.

Hilda is the only Jamison sibling of my dad’s generation that we haven’t managed to trace, and we don’t know if she is still alive (she would be approximately 70 now). Her last known address was in Ontario, possibly in or near Whitby.

It would be great to find out how Hilda and her family are doing – as far as I know, she had one son, my cousin Francis Jr (Frankie).

Below I’ve attached a link to a chart showing the children of Charles Frederick Jamison and Eliza McCurdy Jamison (nee Purcell), showing their current whereabouts, or when they died. Hilda is the last piece of the puzzle, and I hope that if we do trace her or her family makes contact, I can shade her name in green on my chart to show she is still with us.

Siblings chart (enlargeable image)

Welcome to long-lost relatives; Richard, David and Aunt Phyllis

My father, (Frederick) Ian Jamison, had seven full siblings and two half-sisters from his mother’s first marriage, not an unusual family size for that generation of Irish families. Over the years and the distances between the surviving siblings, their children, and grandchildren, some of us have lost touch.  It’s always wonderful when we reconnect, and even better when it’s through this blog!

A couple of months ago I heard from Richard, one of my first cousins, whose mother, Phyllis, is my father’s last surviving sister (that we know of – unless you can help with the last piece of the puzzle!)

I’d tried to trace Phyllis and her family before – having kept up a correspondence with my Uncle Harold between Northern Ireland and England, after ill health and a move of house, they lost touch. My uncle was very keen to reconnect with his sister, and I hoped that this blog would help as we’ve already successfully connected with family ranging from first cousins to descendants of my great uncle William Jamison, son of William McDowell Jamison.

I was overjoyed therefore to receive an email from one of Phyllis’s sons, who had been conducting some family research of his own and found this site. My aunt Phyllis still lives in Northern Ireland, and one of my cousins lives not too far from me!

It was great to swap stories with Richard and put him in touch with my Uncle Harold, and I’m happy and proud to claim another part of the family – thank you for all your help, Richard!

I put off writing this blog as we had a trip planned to Northern Ireland in July (we’ve just returned) – I managed to visit my aunt last week and it was a very touching time for me, with lots of memories. Richard provided the wonderful picture of his mum above, and she still has a fine head of hair and the distinctive Jamison features.

My Uncle Harold’s daughter Denise also visited our aunt with her family, and I’m hoping that my Uncle can make a visit too.

From a family history perspective it was great to get some more pictures – as well as some great pictures of his mum, Richard also provided some wonderful pictures of my Aunt Hilda Todd, who may still live in Canada – she is the last sibling of my father who we haven’t yet made contact with, and I hope that one day that Hilda or maybe her son Francis Google the Jamison family history and find this site.

Welcome, Phyllis, Richard and Sam, and David, and thank you for solving another piece of the Jamison puzzle.

Margaret

Jamison Family Garage, Shore Road, Belfast

Many thanks to the Belfast forum, where this wonderful picture was posted; it shows most of the family home and garage, which were situated on Shore Road, North Belfast, alas demolished in the 1980’s. Fred and Eliza Jamison moved their young family here from Lisburn in the 1950s’ and Fred set up business as Loughside garage, living in the adjacent house. Apart from the trams, this is how I remember the house and garage when I lived there during the early 1970’s.

This is a wonderful picture and really helped me re-establish details which had become a bit hazy. If you own the copyright to this picture of if you have any more of it, please do let me know!

Margaret

Happy New Year to Jamisons, Friends and Family!

Here’s hoping that 2012 is a better year for some of my Jamison family than 2011 was.

2012 is also going to be the year I finally start to get down on paper (or on a Word document) some of the tales, anecdotes and memories of my immediate family, my life in Belfast, and the family history that I have stored up from several sources. There will be a book, and hopefully several, as one book alone couldn’t capture all the events and characters even of the last couple of generations!

Attached is a beautiful chalk rendering of the only picture we have of our paternal grandmother Eliza, by my very talented artist cousin Barb.

Thank you Barb!

Wonderful Purcell Pictures and Updates!

From: 22nd September 2009

The home and gallery pages have been updated with a beautiful picture of my paternal gradmother, Eliza McCurdy Purcell – we had no pictures of our grandmother at all, so this is a wonderful addition.

Many thanks to Colin and Irene for providing a copy, and lots of fantastic and new family history, including a wonderful picture of my great grandmother, Jane Purcell. Thank you so much for introducing us to newly discovered relatives.

Margaret

Updates to the Site

Eliza Purcell’s beautiful picture has been added to the front page. More pictures would be wonderful, so if you have, or know someone who has any pictures of Eliza or Fred, please please get in touch!

Information, anecdotes and pictures are always welcome please!

Margaret x