My home was built in 1936 and I want to know as much as I can about it. I’d love to know about all the previous owners and any changes they might have made from the original design.
I have vague notions about going to the County Recorder, but I have no idea what documents I might be looking for and what they would tell me. Deeds? Changes of ownership? Is this a worthwhile pursuit that will lead to interesting results? Or will I just find a bunch of boring legal documents?
Depends on the city and/or county as far as what records they’ve retained through the years, not to mention where.
A few years back, I tried researching a house I was living in and the first step was the archives room at the public library, which is fortunately, and amazingly open to the public. They had water service connection records going back to 1906 and books of maps that had been drawn up by a fire insurance company in that same era. All I was able to determine was the house pre-dated 1906, as the earlier records had been destroyed in the '06 quake and subsequent fire.
What little I could find was pretty interesting - in 1911, the house was one of two on the entire block and the rest of the land that now holds about 18 houses was described as so-and-so’s homestead.
For your quest, try starting with the county assessor’s office and go from there. Do try to call or stop by at an off-peak time - they’ll be more receptive to you then, as opposed to showing up at the same time half the county is calling about their property taxes.
You should be able to trace the ownership of the house, and the ownership of the land before the house was built, by spending some time at the Registrar of Deeds’s office. As gotpasswords noted, water department records may be available and they’ll tell you – perhaps to the day – when the water was first connected. Tax maps in the assessor’s office will help you get some perspective on how the neighborhood developed.
Also, many cities publish (or used to publish) annual city directories, which may be available at the public library. Using the old Providence city directories, I’ve been able to compile a list of everyone who’s lived in my house since it was built in 1891, and in most cases the directories have also listed their occupations.
Good luck!
You might try looking for Sanborn maps . The company I work for does Phase I env. assessments and we use them when available.
If you are in New England try the town offices for deeds. Some of the deeds I’ve seen give details about buildings on the properties and other details. You can sometimes find the town’s annual reports (at least in VT).
When in doubt, call your local Historical Society.
I work in one, and while we don’t house the records ourselves, we can usually direct you to whom you need to speak.
If the family who owned your house was prominent, or they donated their records to the local Historical Society, you may find a treasure trove of information there, but otherwise, you’ll have to seek out your city’s archives.
Once you find out the names of the owners, you may want to try your local Geneological Society. Someone may have done a work-up on the family already, and sometimes they have more than statistical information, such as family stories recorded by the person who did the research.
Be warned: some things you may not want to know… some members of my family might be distressed to learn that our house was once (many years ago) a funeral home. Or so a previous occupant insists. No problem for me, but I won’t be telling my kids.
Researching houses is a popular activity at my local historical society. Last year, they hired me to set up a site devoted to the task. While most of the resources are specific to our neck of the woods, you might find browsing this site useful. It should give you some idea of what kinds of documents you need to find.
I haven’t done much research on my own house, but I did find out who some of the previous owners were by flipping through old city directories. These were the phonebooks of their day, but often had listings by street instead of, or along with, alphabetical lists. The best part is that they often include occupations, so you can get some sense of the socio-economic status of the neighborhood.
Go to the records room of the local courthouse and find a volume called “Grantees Index.” It is an alphabetical listing of anyone that has obtained a deed to property in your locality (it’ll be a many volume set, according to year). Find your name. It’ll also list who you bought the property from (the grantor). It’ll give a reference to when the deed was recorded and in what deed book. Go pull that deed book. In the deed will be a legal description of the property including a reference to where the previous deed for the property is recorded (“Being the same property conveyed to [grantor] from [previous grantor] as shown in the instrument filed on Page X of Deed Book X.”). You can trace the ownership back by pulling each preceeding deed. You can also go to the County Assessor’s Office and ask to see the work card for your property (it lists the improvements and their values). It’ll also have a reference to property transfers. If you’re lucky, it may also have a picture of your house (the City of Richmond’d work cards had pictures going back to the 1920s).
Sanborn maps are a good idea for finding out what your neighborhood was like in the past. Again, the City of Richmond has Sanborn maps going back as far as 1905.
Depending on the record keeping of your locality, you may be able to find the original building permit. The City of Richmond has them on microfilm going back to the 1910s.