Building and Loan Societies

A lot of my savings were put into mortgage GIC's.  So if you took out a mortgage from my bank, you could be using my money.  You're welcome.

A Building and Loan Society promoted home ownership through residential mortgages. The first known society was established in Birmingham, England in 1775. Since then many building and loan societies throughout the world have been established to help people build a home.

Big cities likely had more than one building society. Different countries have other names and you can search using them as keywords.

"Building Societies (as known in Great Britain) : Building and Loan Associations, Co-operative Banks and Homestead Associations (as known in the United States) : Housing Companies (as known in parts of Continental Europe) : Starr-Bowkett Societies (as known in Australia and New Zealand) : and kindred associations throughout the World"

Relevant Links

The second convention of the International Congress of Building Societies  : held at the Inside Inn, Exposition Grounds, San Francisco, California, July 30th, 1915

Kingston Permanent Building Society, 1852

The Dominion Building Society of Montreal, 1876 (w/shareholders)

The St Catherines Building Society 1847

The Quebec Building Society 1849

Sociétéde Construction Canadienne de Montréal, 1857

Société de construction permanente de Québec, 1891 (w/shareholders)

The Freehold Permanent Building and Savings' Society,Toronto, 1859

Loan Application of Hiram Burton Loughren, Toronto 1870

St. James Building Society, 1875

The Provincial Building Society of NB, 1886

Société de Construction de la Puissance, Montreal, 1876 (w/shareholders)

The Hamilton Provident and Loan Society, Ontario, 1880

Société de Construction Mutuelle, Quebec 1876 (w/shareholders)

Annual report ... loan and building associations of Wisconsin, 1897+

Serendipity Sunday - UK Unclaimed Dividend Books

This week I came across this publication...

Relevant Links

The unclaimed dividend books of the Bank of England:containing the names and descriptions of upwards of twenty thousand persons entitled to various sums- 1851

Related Posts: 

Money and the Cost of Living

Serendipity Sunday - History of Prices in England

While doing my research on my Tait ancestors I came across these publications..

These helped me tell the story of my ancestors, giving prices of produce, dairy, beer and wine, cattle, candles, fuel etc, and what wages they might have made per day.  

I then found that there are issues for various years from 1259 to 1793 of "A History of Agriculture and Prices in England".

So I went in search of other publications that would give the cost of goods and wages at various times and places in history.

Related Links

History of Prices in England from 1259 - 1793 - table of prices

A history of agriculture and prices in England:

Vol I    1259-1400

Vol II   1259-1400

Vol III  1401-1582

Vol IV  1401-1582

Vol V   1583-1702

Vol VI  1583-1702

Vol VII  1703-1793 Part I

Vol VII  1703-1793 Part II

The diary and general expenditure book of William Cunningham of Craigends Scotland ... kept chiefly from 1673-1680

Wholesale prices in Canada 1890-1909

Prix des marchands seches et des produits de la ferme, Canada 1891

Comparative prices, Canada and the United States, 1906-1911

Foodstuffs, retail prices in twenty-four cities: US 1916

US Wholesale prices, wages and transportation, 1893

Price list of groceries, James Lumbers, Toronto 1888

The Canadian Grocer (Toronto publication)

Wholesale price list of groceries - spring 1894 / F.W. Humphrey, Toronto

The Master Grocer, California 1906, 1912, 1915

History of Wages in the United States from Colonial Times to 1928

Prices: An inquiry into prices in New Zealand 1891-1919

Trade unionism, unemployment, wages, prices and COL in Australia 1891-1912

Prices, Food and Wages in Scotland, 1550-1780 (Limited View)

Related Posts:

What's the Beef

Serendipity Sunday - Not just for Farmers!

My Carter ancestors of Fold House Farm in Pilling, Lancashire, England were pig farmers. They developed an excellent breed of pigs that were well sought after.

1899

1938

I can imagine that they may have subscribed to a Farm Journal, which gives good information on animal diseases and care, prize winners, prices at market, etc.

Just because your ancestor was not a farmer, don't discount these fact filled agricultural journals when telling the stories of your ancestors.  For example the Marks Express has market prices of crops and stock at various areas of the UK. Also, in the back of issues are interesting articles for the farmer's wives: recipes, fashion, etc...

Look for farm or agricultural journals for your area.



Relevant Links:


Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England

The Mark Lane Express Agricultural Journal - UK, (various years)

Farmer's Advocate and Home Magazine  Canada (various years)

The Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Victoria, AU

Serendipity Sunday - What's the beef?

While searching through newspapers looking for mention of my ancestors I came across this article in the Dec 7, 1878 issue of the Quebec Saturday Budget.

On that date the retail cost of first quality dressed beef is about $9.50 for 100 lbs, and I don't know why the wide range, but 5¢ to 12½ ¢ per lb for 3rd quality. These are prices your ancestors could expect to pay for their supplies in 1878.

  

 

And prices of leathers and hides...

 

 

You can compare them with the prices of 1881 (page 3) and 1897 (page 4) .

Check local newspaper archives from your area to get prices of supplies.  These were listed Wholesale and Retail prices near the shipping news.  Also grocery store ads.

  

Serendipity Sunday - What's the rate?

I came across this booklet titled the Public Service Rate Book. Not something one would think to look for, right? 

This booklet for Boston, published in 1912, holds rates for cables, telegrams, toll calls, wireless calls, postal service, money orders, train fares, Edison Electric rates, gas usage, and more.


Relevant Link:


Public Service Rate Book

The Millionaire's Club

This year one of the movies premiering at Christmas time is a remake of "Annie", the classic story of Orphan Annie who gets adopted by billionaire Daddy Warbucks. When Christmas time is upon us, don't we all wish we were wealthy like Daddy Warbucks so we could really spoil the ones we love, getting them everything on their wish list??

In the 1800's a $Million would probably be worth a least a $Billion today. Even the people that had a net worth of $10,000 - $100,000 would be millionaires by today's standards.

I have found for you some lists of people and their worth, or the worth of their property. Also a couple of lists and bios of leading men of the city.

Here is an Inflation Calculator to help you find the values of the 1800's for today. Just choose the year from the drop-down menu and enter the value.


Relevant Links:

American Millionaires : the Tribune's list of persons reputed to be worth a million or more. Lines of business in which the fortunes were made - 1892

Boston - Our first men: a calendar of wealth, fashion and gentility: containing a list of those persons taxed in the city of Boston, credibly reported to be worth one hundred thousand dollars, with biographical notices of the principal persons - 1846

The wealthy men and women of Brooklyn an Williamsburgh 1847 - embracing a complete list of all those estimated possessions (in real and personal property) amount to the sum of ten thousand dollars and upwards, together with biographical sketches.

Wealth and Pedigree of the wealthy citizens of New York City and worth - 1800's

Present value of real estate in New York City (by wards) compared with that of 1842 and a list of the wealthy citizens of NYC forty odd - 1884

Memoirs and auto-biography of some of the wealthy citizens of Philadelphia, with a fair estimate of their estates - 1846

The industries of Dublin - historical, statistical, biographical. An Account of the leading business men, wealth and growth - 1887

Dear of Greene County; embracing facts and figures. Portraits and sketches of leading men who will live in her history - 1915

Griffith's list of men and women born in Maine who have risen to distinction - 1905

Queensland - A narrative of her past; with biographies of her leading men - 1900

Next of Kin

The other day I found a notice in the Liverpool Daily Post from February 8, 1915. It was placed by John W. Knowles, solicitor of Widnes, Lancashire, looking for my great-grandmother, Martha Elizabeth Singleton (Tait) who was living in Montreal. 

I have no idea why they were looking for her as both her parents are long since dead. Perhaps one of her brothers died, I have not found death records for them yet. But.... in June of 1916 Martha is on a passenger list returning to Canada from England, which says she arrived there in 1915. So I presume they got in touch with her.

Lawyers put notices in newspapers when they were looking for heirs to estates, and I found this book from 1904 called...

"Index register to next of kin, heirs at law and cases of unclaimed money advertisements in Great Britain, the Colonies, India, America, France, Germany, Ireland, and all parts of the world."

Maybe you will find your ancestors mentioned within the pages of this book! 


Relevant link:

UK Unclaimed Estates List

Serendipity Sunday - The Grocer

While researching ancestors, I came across these books - Canadian Grocer.  There are different years containing articles, ads and markets for different provinces. I found issues for years 1890 to 1922.

 

 



We had a small grocer at the end of the village where I grew up, and I used to go sometimes to get a couple of things for my mother.  It seems to me everything was 25 cents? ... milk, bread, etc... I know that is just my childhood memories, I don't know how much it was, but 25 cents was a lot of money. My Mom also let me buy penny candy and I always got blackballs because you got THREE for a cent, not just 1. And each one lasted a long time.

Looking through these books you can see what your ancestors were buying and how much they might have paid for it.

Digging deeper, I found some similar for the US and for the UK.

Canadian Grocer

Master Grocer - San Francisco -  3 Issues

The British Merchant's Assistant 1766

Three Centuries of Prices of Wheat, Flour and Bread - UK 1917

The Effect of Taxes on Food Stuffs - UK 1914






 

Money and Cost of Living

Now we know what our ancestors did for a living, about what his wages were, but how far did those wages go?  Did husband and wife both have to work to make ends meet? Did the children have to work also? Remember I mentioned in the last article that on the 1911 Census they asked for occupations of persons 10 years of age and over. It was sad that many children were deprived of their childhood because they had to work to feed the family. Money, or lack thereof, had an impact on the way your ancestors lived.

Livres tournois were the first currency of the time in Canada, so called because they were first minted at the Abbey in the Touraine region of France.

Each livre was divided into 20 sols (sous after 1715) each of which was divided into 12 deniers.  Eight ounces of gold (a mark) was worth 740 livres, 9 sols; eight ounces of silver was worth 51 livres, 2 sols, 3 deniers. It took about 200 livres per year per person to live comfortably.

The first cheques were actually written on the backs of playing cards.  Later they used Treasury Notes like this one for 48 livres.   

Do you think your recent ancestor may have left some money in a bank?  When people die or move and their accounts aren't closed out, the money goes to the Bank of Canada.  I found that one of my aunts had over $200 in an account and I told my cousin so she could apply for it. You can search by name for unclaimed money at the Bank of Canada Website here .    



The Bank of Canada maintains custody of all balances of $1,000 or more for 100 years at the Bank of Canada after the 10-year inactivity period at the original bank. Unclaimed balances under $1,000 are retained for thirty years after the 10-year period. Balances must be claimed before the period in Bank of Canada custody ends.

If the balance remains unclaimed until the end of the prescribed custody period, the Bank of Canada transfers the funds to the Receiver General for Canada.

Happy treasure hunting!

                        

Relevant Links:

Coinage, wages and the cost of living in London

New France PDF (Bank of Canada)

What things cost in New France  

Historical Statistics  - world

Historical Retail Food Prices – USA

Old Measures

Unclaimed assets UK

Unclaimed Money Australia 

Unclaimed Money USA 

De Bernardy's Unclaimed Money Register: Being a List of Names of Persons - UK 1883

UK Treasury Bona Vacantia list of unclaimed estates

Richardson & Co unclaimed money register of British subjects who have died intestate in Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, America and the Cape of Good Hope. 1880

 Cost of goods and labour in England 1259-1793