LIFEINTHEBIGOLDHOUSE
How to be a house history detective
Uncover the past
of your home
BY LAURI SERAFIN
Becoming familiar with the history of
your home can add depth and perspective to
an old house experience and your place in
the chain of ownership.
I have a desire to know who lived and
died in my house, but also details of their
lives. In this column, I’ll discuss how to
become a house history detective and do
the research.
There are two basic principals to eff ec-
tive research: start with what you know, and
work backward .
Primary sources are the best source of
information . A primary source is created at
the time of the event. Secondary sources
interpret and analyze information from pri-
mary sources.
Before you begin, know your historic
The
Illahee
Apartments
Library of Congress
A Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Astoria, in
the area of Seventh Street and Grand Avenue.
street addresses. Street names changed in
Astoria around 1895. Astoria changed the
house numbering system around 1955.
I found it easiest to locate the old
address using Sanborn maps, city directo-
ries and a census. A legal description of the
property is helpful. This might be expressed
as an addition name, or block and lot num-
ber. Names of previous owners or occu-
pants are also extremely useful.
County land records
As good as it gets
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1046 Grand Avenue
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These essential records document sales
and are generally organized by an index of
grantor (seller) and grantee (buyer).
You can use the index to look up records
in the correct deed book. Clatsop County
records are available free of charge on
microfi lm from the time the county orga-
nized to 1909 . They can be found in the
Family History Library Catalog at Family-
Search.org.
Look up Clatsop County and you will
have access to land records. This research
process may take a few hours. Document
the chain of ownership and read the record.
It might contain descriptions of structures
and a price.
Note, it is common in Northwest Oregon
for land sales to be recorded in the wife’s
A newspaper clipping from 1909, documenting a real estate sale.
name. I traced our property transactions
from McClure in Clatsop County to the
Warren family; to Capt. Archibald Cann,
and Dr. Forsstrom in 1909.
at multiple websites and on microfi lm at the
Astoria Library. There are multiple pages
and you will need to explore to fi nd your
map.
Sanborn maps
City directories
Sanborn m aps are detailed maps for fi re
insurance purposes. They were done at vari-
ous time intervals and provide an outline of
structures on a property, the street address
and other information.
The earliest map I can fi nd of Astoria is
dated for 1884 on the Library of Congress
website at loc.gov. The maps can be viewed
City directories were typically created
annually and list names, occupations and
addresses of residents. They are arranged
alphabetically by surname. Reverse direc-
tories are available for Astoria as early as
the year 1931. City directories for Astoria
See Page 5