Every house has stories to tell. Have you ever wondered about the families that lived in your house before you moved in? The area around your home must have gone through some changes over the years. What did things used to look like? You can use your genealogy skills to uncover the history of your house, and the people who used to live there. It can be fun to use your genealogy research skills in a slightly different way.
You probably put a lot of thought into what you wanted in a home. If you have several children, you need a home with plenty of bedrooms. You also might look for a house that has a spacious kitchen, or a big dining room, so your family can all sit down together for meals. Some families need a big backyard for the kids to run around in, or that includes enough space for a garden. The longer you live in your home, the more family history that is created within it’s walls.
It can be interesting to discover the history of your home. There are basically two paths that you can follow with this sort of research. Either focus on learning about the families who used to live there, or focus on learning about the changes that took place in the structure of the home itself. Either path will reveal some interesting stories, and the two paths might overlap in places.
When I was in college, I lived in a rented house with a bunch of my friends. Before we moved in, one of my classmates was living there with a group of her friends. The house had been split into two separate apartments, with the downstairs split off from the upstairs. The downstairs apartment had access to a door that lead to an enclosed stairway. Climbing the stairs revealed a door to the upstairs apartment, which the owners of the home had permanently sealed shut.
One of the upstairs bedrooms had been converted into a small, but functional, kitchen. The downstairs apartment once had a large porch, but, over the years someone had enclosed the porch into the structure of the home. I remember that it had also been segmented into smaller areas, and there was a window that opened up directly into the adjoining room. The biggest mystery involved a large, soft, chair that we found in the attic. To get to the attic, you had to open a door, and climb a set of stairs. Inside, was a large chair. The chair was much larger than than the doorway. None of use ever learned how that chair got into the attic.
If you want to learn more about your home, there are several things you can do. Talk to your neighbors, who may have been friends with the families that used to live in your home. Use your favorite genealogy website to learn more about them. Visit the local historical society, and ask questions. You might find old photos of what your house used to look like. Newspaper archives can also be a great source of information.
Image by Kim Scarborough on Flickr