Photos courtesy of John Northe
A photo of Dr. Toivo Forsstrom in 1945.
Continued from Page 4
can be found at the Astoria Library, Clat-
sop County Historical Society and Ances-
try.com.
U.S. federal census
The census is taken every 10 years in
the United States. These records date back
to 1790. Be aware the year 1890 is missing
for most of the country. Censuses are gen-
erally searchable on online genealogy web-
sites. You can browse by ward number or
enumeration district. Census data provides
a snapshot of data on people living at an
address. Keep in mind census data is some-
times incorrect.
Oral history
You can track living descendants of
former owners. For me, this was the
most rewarding. I found Dr. Forsstrom’s
step-grandchildren by searching on the
internet and following up on his 1945
newspaper obituary information through
internet searches.
I contacted and met them! We took them
on a tour through the house and they have
gifted us with family photos and artifacts. I
treasure their stories.
The Forsstrom step-grandson toured the
house in 2019. It was his first time in the
house since about 1950. He had nice mem-
ories of his grandmother, Nelma Forsstrom!
I got fabulous descriptions of the decor
from a child’s perspective. He especially
liked playing on the mahogany grand stair-
case and vividly recalled the old brass dust
corners.
Historic register summaries
Your home might be on a historic regis-
ter or inventory. If one exists for your prop-
erty, it can be obtained from your local
jurisdiction or the Oregon State Historic
Preservation Office. Keep in mind this is a
secondary source and may contain errors.
Newspapers
The best free website for digitized
searchable Oregon newspapers is Historic
Oregon Newspapers by the University of
Oregon. The Astoria Library has a card cat-
alog index that includes many years of old
The author was able to track down the living descents of former inhabitants of her home, who
gifted her copies of family photos. This photo is of Nelma Matson Northe Forrstrom Anderson
and her grandson, John Northe.
local newspapers. Paid newspaper archive
subscription sites include newspapers.
com and genealogybank.com, and you can
search by surname, surname variants and
street address. You will find obituaries, land
transactions, news, society page and gen-
eral gossip.
The Clatsop County Historical Society
has an amazing online resource. Visit Asto-
riaMuseums.org, then click “explore” on
the menu and scroll down to “Research and
Collections.” You can choose to search the
internet archive or photograph collection.
I found additional photographs, more
importantly, memoirs that mentioned for-
mer owners. It’s a fantastic local research
tool and makes the collection very accessi-
ble to the casual researcher. It’s well done
and greatly appreciated.
Email me your best research finds. I can
do a column on additional research tips if
there is interest. Next month, I will dis-
cuss old house styles common to the North
Coast. It’s important information to under-
stand since it drives choices in decor, pres-
ervation, restoration and renovation.
Lauri Serafin is the owner of the
Forsstrom House, built in 1914 in Astoria’s
Shively-McClure Historic District. She can
be contacted at Forsstromhouse@gmail.
com. You can find more details about her
restoration work at theforsstromhouse.com
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2021 // 5