How can I research my house's history?

Question

How can I research my house's history?

Answer 1

2 easy solutions.

1) If your town has a historical society they may know some stuff, and certainly they would know how to help you find stuff out.

2) Old people in your area. Some of them have probably been around thier whole lives and they will gladly tell you everything that happened in your house over the past 80 years.

Answer 2

Another suggestion is to look for what the streets might have been named previously; there is a location I did research for that is currently on 17th St but back in 1860 it was Lake St.

Answer 3

Inspect your house closely. You may find a name scratched on a wall . Sometimes peeple keep track of their chilfdren's height growth along with their name on a wall.

    Talk to your neighbors. If you’re new to the neighborhood and want to find out about the recent history of your house, your longtime neighbors may be able to help. Plus, asking about your house and the neighborhood is a great way to break the ice.

Go to the local or county courthouse to look at the deed registry. The registry is usually found in the clerk and recorder’s office. Ask for the registry of deeds for your particular property. In the U.S. this information is indexed by a lot and block number in a city, and a section, township and range for rural property.

          Check building permits which list type of structure, dates of construction, details, and owner.

    Track down previous owners to find out what improvements were made. The owner information can also be accessed by tracing the deed history. Once you find out who the previous owners were, track them down by searching the internet or using one of the many commercial people-locator services available. Speaking with those who came before you may allow you to get a better image of the original house. Of course, this is easier said than done if the owners you’re looking for died a hundred years ago.

    Check other public records based on owner's names, the address of the house, and any other information available. Often an older house will pass from one owner to another through a mortgage or a will and will thus not show up on deeds. You might want to look at surveyor maps to see if anything had been added or demolished. A good place to start looking is at the assessor’s office in your jurisdiction. The assessor keeps records of the taxable value of the home, and there may be old appraisals on file that describe the house in great detail. You can also check old city directories (reverse phone books that list the homes by address), county histories, vital statistics, and census records.

  

      Use library reference rooms and computers to help track down relevant information. Search through historical records and lists of addresses of previous owners. Neighborhood names as well as street signs change with the times.

    Research the history of your neighborhood. There may be a great deal more information available about your neighborhood than about your house, and this information may provide tremendous insights into your home’s history. For very old houses, which are common in much of Europe, for example, neighborhood information may be all you can find about the early history of your home.

  

     Don’t be afraid to ask questions. You can often find out as much with one question as you can with hours of research. If you’re making a lot of copies at the public records office or library, one question you should always ask (if it’s not posted) is how much they charge for copies.

Answer 4

Definitely check out the register of deeds office for your township or city.  They have the deeds for each property archived, and you are welcome to look through them.  You may need to figure out where you are, exactly, and different areas do that differently.  The office people can help, if you ask nicely.  Depending on how old your property is, it can be really fascinating, and at the very least, you can get names.  If you have names, you can do searches through old newspapers and other types of legal documents.  Check your local government building to find out where, exactly, the archives are, and good luck!

Answer 5

Start off with the title on your house check with your town hall to see if they have records of previous owners before that. Find out if you have a local historical society they can usually help immensely. Your local library might be able to help with names of previous owners. and good luck it's a lot of fun

Answer 6

GO TO YOUR LOCAL COUNTY COUNCIL THAT MIGHT HELP OR CALL INTO YOUR LOCAL ARCHITECT WHO MIGHT HELP YOU....

Answer 7

You may need to purchase an abstract.

Answer 8

Good places for a first start oare your county or city property tax assessor.  Those are public records and if you live in a small town, they may go back a very long time.  Cities may have the advantage of computerized or microfilm records.  Beyond that, try a local historical society.  They may have old pictures of your area that might show your house in the past.  They and your public library may have "vanity" books published by local prominent citizens or families that have historical (though often biased) information about your area and may even mention your property, especially if it was once part of a larger farm or estate as mine once was.

Another way to get information, although a "back door" kind of method is to search old census records.  On Family Tree Maker you can look through old census records page by page to find who lived at a specific location.  Remember, however, that censuses only occur every ten years and they are private for the first 60 or so years back so the most recent you can search is about 1930.  Good luck!