FamilySearch Basics For Your House History Research

In researching the history of your house, an invaluable resource to you in learning about the former and original owners and occupants of your home will be the vast database of resources available via the website, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org). Certainly, if family history is one of your hobbies (or your profession), then you no doubt log on to this website on a very frequent, if not daily, basis. However, even for you, I hope you glean some tips here with a focus on relevance to the history of a house. What...

Read More »

House History on Jeopardy!

I caught some of this evening's episode of the world-famous game show, Jeopardy!, and happened to walk into the room just as the contestants were making a run through a category called "House Proud". This was part of the first round (the Jeopardy! round), and each answer and question in this category dealt with a specific term for a type of home dwelling. Although I had already missed seeing the $200 answer and only caught the response for the $400 answer, I enjoyed taking a stab at the remainder of the category. I...

Read More »

Saturday Spotlight- Circa 1915 Craftsman in Souderton

This week's Saturday Spotlight house is a Craftsman bungalow just outside of the borough of Souderton, PA. Image courtesy of real estate listing by Re/Max Reliance We have here a fairly modest Craftsman of nearly 1,900 square feet which exhibits several of the typically common features of this Arts-and-Crafts-inspired home style. The most distinctive of these are the low-pitched roof of the front porch, anchored by tapered stone piers which touch the ground. Stonework is continued with a prominent external fireplace...

Read More »

Interview with Berks County Recorder of Deeds-- Fred Sheeler

Back in September, I shared the online search and image viewing capabilities for documents at the website of the Berks County Recorder of Deeds (a county adjacent to my own). In my article, I noted the strides Recorder Fred Sheeler has taken in making these documents so accessible, in my view above and beyond what you see in many other counties. Recently, Mr. Sheeler afforded me the opportunity to ask him some further questions about his accomplishments and his recording process. Hopefully, under new leadership with...

Read More »

Re-Examining the Previous Layouts of the House

As far as I have been able to discern thus far, the floor plan layout of my house has gone through at least four significantly different iterations. I took my first shot at one of these previous layouts several months ago, after discovering evidence of a now-abandoned kitchen at the back of the house. In hindsight, those conjectures were incorrect after further investigation. Now, given the benefit of a lengthy conversation recently with long-time owner Catherine Cantlin's daughter-in-law, I take pause to examine what...

Read More »

Finding Physical Evidence: Second Back Door

My modest little bungalow was built in at least two stages. The first, the main house as seen today from the street, was built in the 1920's, likely around 1922-1923. As I've featured in a few previous blog posts, the rear portion of the house, which currently contains our living room and the third bedroom, was built as an addition with at least part of it built in 1946. With a back door exiting the house onto the back wood deck, I've always assumed that this was the entrance to the house's second living unit back...

Read More »

Information From a Former Occupant of the House

Just before the New Year, I penned an article here called "The Importance of Contacting Your House's 'Descendants'" which described why it is so important for you to attempt to contact living persons who are connected to your house's history. This is THE most likely way to find the most elusive types of information-- about layout (or other physical) changes, the personalities/lives of former owners and occupants, and perhaps even photographs. The article also described ways in which you can go about finding these living...

Read More »

Saturday Spotlight- Circa 1910 American Foursquare in Pottstown

This week's Saturday Spotlight house is a brick American Foursquare in the borough of Pottstown, PA. The American Foursquare style is very common in more densely populated areas and is pretty easy to spot and identify. This particular house measures approximately 1,800 square feet. This type of house is also referred to as the "Prairie Box" or "Classic Box" because it, well, looks like a box. It was one of the dominant styles of house architecture during its peak in popularity from 1900 to 1920. As seen in this...

Read More »