Do you own an old house? If you didn’t inherit it from a family member and know the history of it, did you ever wonder who the family or families were that lived there before you? How many
families lived there? Were the families large? Where did they work? Did any unusual events happen to the families who owned the home? Or are you really into genealogy or writing your family’s history and want to add some interesting facts to the narrative?
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Those questions can be researched in several online ways that I will briefly discuss in this blog post.
A little background on how I became interested in the historical aspects of two of the houses in which I had lived. For the sake of time, I will discuss just one of the homes.
Years ago, I owned an old home in a historic town in Pennsylvania. I did know that parts of the town in which I lived were rooted in the American Revolution. One of the oldest and most historic cemeteries in Pennsylvania was also located not very far from my home. In addition, there had been a Revolutionary War fort that originally sat at the end of my street next to the river. There had been numerous additions, deconstructions, reconstructions, two major floods, and a few renovations to the home before I bought it in 1981. Of those, I was made aware of some changes by the owner from whom I purchased the home.
Actually, the reason I wanted to research this particular old house in which I resided for eight years was a bit spooky and scary, but I’ll save that for another blog post!
My interest in genealogy as an adult had just started to bloom again for many reasons. I had an interest as a child and young adult (you can read that in one of my earlier blog posts). But, at the time I was a very busy working mother and, even though I was interested in the history of my home I did not have the time to do the research.
However, in today’s world, we can do much of our genealogical and historic research online. Oh, how I wish that I had been able to do research online at that time. Sometimes the answers we get online are as much information as we would like to find. Simply by checking some of the online sources that I will suggest you may be able to find the information about your old house.
In this blog post, I will discuss online sources and in a later blog post, I will include local, state, and national archive repositories that will be of help in your research.
Here are some online sources that may reveal the occupants and owners pertaining to a home’s history are as follows:
1. U.S. Federal Census
This is where I began the search for the previous owners and their histories.
A bit about the U.S. Federal Census first:
Every 10 years since 1790 the United States government conducted a Federal Population Census. In the early censuses information was limited to location and head of household, usually a male, and hash marks for the other residents of the home according to their gender and ages. As the years progressed, by 1850, much more in-depth information was gathered and organized by the census enumerators on Schedule 1 – Free Inhabitants. Such as:
· Dwelling-house numbered in the order of visitation
· Families numbered in order of the visitation
· Name of every person whose usual place of abode on the first day of June 1850, was in this family
· Age
· Sex
· Color (white, black, or mulatto
· Profession, occupation, or trade of each male person over 15 years of age
· Value of real estate owned
· Place of birth, naming the place, territory, or country
· Married within the year (hash mark if yes)
· Attended school within the year (has hash mark if yes)
· Persons over 20 years of age who cannot read and write (hash mark if yes)
· Whether deaf and dumb, blind, insane, idiotic, pauper, or convict (has mark if yes)
The 1850 population census included three important schedules: the general population schedule, the 1850 Slave Schedule, and the 1850 Mortality schedule. Each one may contain unique information pertinent to your family’s history. The Schedule 2 – Slave Inhabitants and the Schedule 3 Mortality Schedule may also be of use for research purposes to you. All three can be found at The National Archives in Washington, D.C.
Using the U.S. Federal Census from each 10-year period following 1850 until 1950 I was able to pinpoint the occupants and the periods in which they lived in the house. The censuses were undoubtedly the best starting points in my research once I drew upon the history of the well-known town.
Research Tip:
The U.S. Federal Census is the first place I go to begin my online research about an old house. Just be aware that numbers, street names, and addresses may have changed over the years. Always check the addresses of neighbors or do a bit of detective work when an address is different than the house that you are currently researching.
2. Newspapers
If you have access to the website Newspapers.com (a paid website), you may be able to find out a lot of information about the former life of your old house. If you have been able to find the name of the previous residents (up to the 1950 U.S. Federal Census, you may be able to search for that name(s) in old newspapers.
Chronicling America also has digitized newspapers among its archives. And it is a free website!
Old newspapers reported on many happenings both local, county, state, and country. You could say it was the social media of our recent ancestors. Search for names, addresses, and occurrences during the time you are pinpointing. They can reveal births, baptisms, social events, legal issues, deaths, and obituaries, all of which may lead to a wealth of information. Old newspapers are my second step in researching an old home and its residents or owners.
3. Maps
Maps can be a big help in locating your old house. There are many old maps online and in local libraries and record offices. Look for maps that show the streets and individual buildings. The purpose of this is to set your property in its correct location so that when you start to explore its history you can always find it.
One great online source that I have used is Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps. These maps can be found on the Library of Congress website. The Sanborn maps are detailed maps of U.S. cities and towns in the 19th and 20th centuries. They were created to assist fire insurance companies in their assessment of risk in urban areas. If the house you are researching about was in a city or town, you may be in luck.
Research tip:
· Find a map that shows the streets and if possible, the individual buildings.
· Take careful note of the neighborhood around your property and note the landmarks.
· Look for schools, colleges, shops, community or civic buildings, railway lines or stations as well as fire alarms and post boxes. The reason is that when all else fails and the name or number is changed or the street’s position has been altered, its position on the map in relation to those landmarks will remain constant.
· Maps will also show how the village, town, or city has altered over the years and the information you find will be a guide to the social and economic life of the community.
· At times the maps may show you the plot that your house was built upon before it was constructed.
I found a lot of information about the home I was researching through old maps, especially the Sanborn Fire Maps. The address of my old house had been changed throughout the years and by looking at the location in conjunction with the U.S. Federal Censuses I was able to find the old address number and correspond it to the current or latest address number.
Note that maps may be found online, and others may need to be researched at a library or courthouse.
4. Old Postcards, old photographs, etc.
EBay.com, Esty.com, and other online auction websites may possibly have some information in the form of vintage postcards or vintage and antique photographs. While it may be a long shot, don’t disregard this avenue. I have found some interesting postcards depicting the town in which my old house was located. They may even show a street vignette with a picture of your house! It’s worth a quick check.
5. Various other websites relating to old towns, cities, and addresses.
I recently came across a new-to-me website that could possibly hold some information about your home. It is called HouseNovel.com and has many resources about the history of old homes. You can input the address that you are planning to research, and it may give you a photograph of the home and/or some real estate background.
Don’t discount the various national real estate websites that have information about current home sales or previous home sales. Of particular interest to researchers may be the date the home was built, the current address, a current or recent photograph, and the square footage of the home and lot.
The five sources that I have just discussed were able to help me with my research. That was as far as I was able to go since I had begun my research in earnest on one of my old homes after I moved several hundred miles from the location. If you still live in the home or near it, then you may be lucky enough to have access to records in local archives. In a later blog, I will discuss the use of brick-and-mortar archival repositories.
If you would like to dig further into how to research your old house, I came upon a fantastic website, EverydayOldHouse.com that has wonderful, very detailed information about both online and offline sources and repositories regarding the discovery of the history of your American home.
am sure there are many more online sources from which you may glean the information that you need about your old house. Often one website will lead you to another helpful website. If you are a genealogist, it can be the proverbial “rabbit hole” that you begin to travel down!
And spoiler alert! I did find most of the information about my old house and who lived there. But as can be true, one question often leads to another. However, a lot of my questions were answered which gave me a better understanding of the house in which I had lived and its history.
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