How to Find the History of Your House

Before beginning your book research, the first place to start is in your neighborhood. Ask questions of long-time neighbors; they may be able to give you a lot of information about your property, such as who lived there, if the house was changed in any way or what the neighborhood used to be like. If they can give you names and dates, this will greatly help you in your research, so be sure to write them down.

Your next outing will be to the county recorder's office, usually housed at City Hall. It's here where you can find the deeds of all of the properties in the community. The deed will show you the progression of ownership of the house, so you should be able to trace back to the original owner.

The deed will also tell you if there are any liens against the house. A lien means that someone has a legal claim on the property because of an outstanding debt. While you're looking at property records, pay close attention to the addresses, they could be different than your current one if the property around it changed hands at some point. Street names are known to change over the years as well.

While you're at City Hall, you can also look for historical records of any surveys done on your land, as well as appraisals, tax assessments, property lines, building permits and inspections. This will let you know if any work has been done on your house, or if your property once belonged to a larger piece of property.

See if your town has Sanborn maps. These are extremely detailed maps of urban areas produced until 1970 by the Sanborn Map Company. They were originally used for assessing fire insurance liability, but if your city has a Sanborn map and your house was built between 1867 and 1970, they can be incredibly helpful in piecing together information.

They include details like the outline of the building, the shape, size and construction materials used, and the location of windows and doors. They also give street names, which can help you determine if your street has changed since the house was originally built [source: Sanborn.com]. Some cities also have old aerial maps, which offer helpful exterior details.

Next, we're onto the public library, which — if they have it — will give you free access to everything from local history books to historic photos. Many libraries have a Polk's Reverse Telephone Directory, allowing you to search by address rather than by a homeowner's name. These directories list the head of the household as well as the owner's occupation. Once you've determined who the early owners of your house were, you can search for their names in old newspaper records.

Records of your neighborhood may also be kept in the county or local library. If you're lucky enough to stumble upon one, regional history books are full of photographs of early settlers and their residences.

It's doubtful you'll find this information archived on the Internet, so this means dusting off your old microfiche skills. If you were in school pre-Google, you've probably spent some time in the microfiche room. Microfiche is a method of archiving old books, newspapers and journals. Information is stored on a small piece of film that's too small to seen by the naked eye, so it's run through a magnifying device.

You may be able to find newspaper clippings about your home's former residents that can give you some clues about the house. You can also use the library to search census records, which list jobs, names and ages of people living in a single residence.

If you're able to track down the previous owners or their descendants, that's where you're likely to get the best information: stories, renovation and construction dates, family portraits and pictures of the house. If not, researching the area can be helpful in piecing together information.

Alternatively, get in touch with your local historical society. If your house has historical significance, they may be able to help you dig up your home's history.

Doing some digging in the online National Archives may also turn up useful information about the people who lived in your house. In the United States, property tax records and census records are public record, so dig deeper and utilize these resources. Similarly, city directories — comprehensive lists of the residents, streets, organizations, businesses and institutions in a given city — can be useful and may be available to view through local, state or national libraries.

What can you find out about your home in researching its history? Maybe your kitchen is where the living room used to be, helping to explain the odd angles and ill-placed window. Or perhaps you hear things that go bump in the night with no explanation and think the old owner may be paying a little visit. There are many interesting reasons to take a trip down someone else's memory lane and learn more about the house that you call home.

Renovators who wish to return their home to its original grandeur could benefit from knowing their house's history. It can be a challenge to include original details or mimic building materials if you're not sure quite what it looked like when it was built. Years of carpet over hardwoods, drywall over fireplaces and tile over tile have left it looking worse for wear. A room added here, a wall moved there, and suddenly your floor plan no longer resembles its former self. If you're fortunate enough to track down someone who has photos of your house in its early years, the guesswork is done.

If your house is an architectural masterpiece, you might want to get it listed on the National Register for Historic Places to ensure that it's preserved long after you're gone. One of the criteria is that the house is associated with events that have made a contribution to history. For example, if a notable historical figure ever lived in your house or even visited, this fits the bill. But you have to be able to back it up, so in comes those hours of combing through microfiche.

Whether or not you believe in ghosts, some people actually do claim to have them in their homes. Unless you live in California or Hawaii, which require disclosure of unearthly visitors or ghostly activity, you're pretty much on your own to get to the bottom of it. If odd and unexplainable events send you running out the door on a regular basis, neighbors may be able to offer some insight. But if not, you might want to head over to your local library and start your own research.