how to research your house's history: part two

7 (More) Tips to

RESEARCH YOUR HOUSE’S HISTORY

1. Don’t forget about

recent history.Your city or county's GIS database will

include the latest deed book or plate

book page, recent sale prices, and

information on if your house was

altered in the past 20 or 30 years.

2. Visit the Registrar

Mesne Conveyance

(RMC).Here you can find records like deeds,

titles, probate records, and wills that will

give you information as to when your

house was built and who owned it

throughout its history, as well as how the

house changed ownership over the years.

3. Know how titles, deeds, probate records,

and wills can help you.It’s best to work backwards—find the most recent title or deed (prior to you, of

course), and keep moving backwards until there aren’t any records.

4. Learn the lingo.It will save you time and make your

search less stressful if you have a

great reference book that clearly

explains what words like

"conveyance," "grantor," "grantee,"

and "plat" mean.

5. Sanborn maps

are a huge help.You can gain a wealth of information

from a standard Sanborn map. Each

overlay tells a specific fact, including

the number of stories, roof material,

and the type of building (dwelling,

commercial, etc.).

6. Talk with your local

preservation and

historical societies.They often will have their own archives

that could include maps and photographs,

as well as personal collections from the

people who lived in your house.

7. Take advantage of online databases.Libraries and archives usually have subscriptions to online databases that have

digitized thousands of historic newspapers. You can learn more about the

neighborhood and, if a past owner was prominent, find useful articles about them.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation works to save America’s

historic places. Preservation Tips & Tools helps others do the same

in their own communities.

For more information, visit SavingPlaces.org.

Paul Hohmann/Flickr/CC BY-NC 2.0; Florida Keys

Public Libraries/Flickr CC BY 2.0; Sha in

LA/Flickr/CC BY-ND 2.0; Sha in LA/Flickr/CC BY-

NC 2.0; Carolina Prysyazhnyuk/Flickr/CC BY-SA

2.0; Jerry/Flickr/ CC BY-SA 2.0; Henry de

Saussure Copeland/Flickr/CC BY-NC 2.0; Marcie

Casas/Flickr/CC BY 2.0.