# How do I find my father's house from thirty years ago? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 28, 2011, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-my-fathers-house-from-thirty-years-ago/597893 "2011-09-28T15:57:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Surb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@The\_Surb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Surb)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-my-fathers-house-from-thirty-years-ago/597893/21 "2011-09-29T00:10:55Z")
My father passed away over 30 years ago, I just found his address by googling his name. However, his name is not all that common. ---
**Author:** ![LurkerInNJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ed655f/32.png) [@LurkerInNJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkerInNJ)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-my-fathers-house-from-thirty-years-ago/597893/22 "2011-09-29T00:45:43Z")
I have an [Ancestry.com](http://Ancestry.com) membership and can check for you if you would like. ---
**Author:** ![LurkerInNJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ed655f/32.png) [@LurkerInNJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkerInNJ)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-my-fathers-house-from-thirty-years-ago/597893/23 "2011-10-02T17:04:01Z")
**CaptMurdock** , I replied to your pm and haven’t heard back from you. I’m posting just in case it didn’t go through. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-my-fathers-house-from-thirty-years-ago/597893/24 "2011-10-02T19:10:26Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > Can you ask your mother or older siblings? Do you have any other family or friends that might have known him? > > What about phone books? If you know the name of the town, you could try to get a copy of the phone book from one of the years that he lived there. > > Did your father attend a school where you might be able to get the information from the alumni office? > > Were your parents living there when you or any of your siblings was born? The address might be on your birth certificate. My birth certificate has my parents’ address from the time on it. Also, what about school records (yourself or siblings?) > > Local land records! In the county I live in, who owns what house (and who used to own it) is public record, available at the courthouse for anyone who walks in and asks. Local land records—good one. For 1980 or thereabouts. ---
**Author:** ![WhyWhyWhy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whywhywhy/32/7539_2.png) [@WhyWhyWhy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyWhyWhy)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-my-fathers-house-from-thirty-years-ago/597893/25 "2011-10-03T08:26:45Z")
Google Earth has a timeline feature that can go back decades (varies by location). ---
**Author:** ![cantara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6f9a4e/32.png) [@cantara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cantara)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-my-fathers-house-from-thirty-years-ago/597893/26 "2011-10-03T17:07:37Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > Briefly, some details: > > The town is San Clemente, CA. It was about five to ten minutes from the 405(?) freeway, turning left off the offramp as you were heading towards San Diego. I don’t remember which offramp, however. > … > The windows in the main living room of the house (BIG windows, lemme tell ya) faced west-to-northwest; we could see Dana Point in the distance. We weren’t at the top of the hill, but the street had a few houses alongside ours. I don’t remember the land below the property being developed, but this was thirty years ago so that might have changed. > … Is [this](http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=San+Clemente,+CA&hl=en&ll=33.429048,-117.600839&spn=0.000072,0.027509&sll=48.615378,-93.395414&sspn=0.001915,0.003439&vpsrc=6&safe=on&hnear=San+Clemente,+Orange,+California,+United+States&t=p&z=15&layer=c&cbll=33.429048,-117.600839&panoid=p-wswuSCA1nigEMCbr-JRQ&cbp=12,288.95,,0,8.85) the right view? Start driving around in StreetView. I was going by your description being east of the highway and bit of a drive to get there. I looked at a couple other areas but they are very close to the highway or didn’t have a clear view. The neighbourhood just to the [south-west](http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=San+Clemente,+CA&hl=en&ll=33.42811,-117.603621&spn=0.000072,0.027509&sll=48.615378,-93.395414&sspn=0.001915,0.003439&vpsrc=0&hnear=San+Clemente,+Orange,+California,+United+States&t=p&layer=c&cbll=33.42815,-117.603777&panoid=L17ylTwpflx1iessul6SQQ&cbp=12,308.16,,0,11.51&safe=on&z=15)may be a candidate…there are larger homes there. I’m surprised there aren’t more homes with pools. ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-my-fathers-house-from-thirty-years-ago/597893/27 "2011-10-03T18:36:16Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > Briefly, some details: > > The town is San Clemente, CA. You can try the Orange County Grantor/Grantee search by name [http://cr.ocgov.com/grantorgrantee2/searchPersonsName.asp](http://cr.ocgov.com/grantorgrantee2/searchPersonsName.asp) It goes back to 1982, not sure if that is far enough, but it’s nearly 30 years ago. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-my-fathers-house-from-thirty-years-ago/597893/28 "2011-10-03T18:40:16Z")
Just noticed that unlike my county here in MA they don’t have digitized versions of the documents online though. Frustrating. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-my-fathers-house-from-thirty-years-ago/597893.md?page=1)