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Coos County Oregon

Coquille Courthouse circa 1947

 

© 2005 Robyn Greenlund

The Coos County Home Historian

County Records

Before starting on any historical research on your home, set realistic expectations. Remember that not every house can be traced that far back in time and that you may not find anything about your house besides the previous owners names. And while this guide is designed to streamline the process of researching your house, you may need to revisit the archives or spend long hours looking at microfilmed records with little or no success. But even with these limitations, the process of researching your home will acquaint you with how record keeping has changed over the years and you are sure to discover interesting facts about the area - even if they don't involve your house or its former owners.

The first step in your research should be a visit to the County Court House, the "Hall of records". There are three departments that you will visit, the Assessor's office and the Surveying office on the second floor and the main Hall of Records in the Clerk's office on the main floor. Take along a copy of the Ownership worksheet and enough money to make copies of the material you find.

Beginning with the Assessor's office, you can either search online or may request the current ownership information from the clerk at the desk. You will need to know the street address of the property and the zip code. You may also want to review Understanding Assessment Information before you visit the court house.

The next step is to visit Surveyor's office. Here you will use the information obtained from the Assessor's office and may look up the plat maps showing the lot and subdivision information for your house. The names of the  subdivision are described as additions to the towns, and often can provide clues as to the original ownership of the property - before it was divided up into lots where houses were built. You can also view these maps at the City Hall if your home is located in a city.

The final office to visit is the "Hall of Records" in the County Clerk's office. Here is where you will do the majority of your research in identifying the previous owners of your house. Here you will need to request help from the clerks before using the records. Keep in mind that often the records you are viewing are the only copies of these documents and extra special care is needed. Only use a pencil to ensure no marks are placed on the documents and indexes. Be careful lifting the books and placing them safely on the tables as most are very heavy. Use the Ownership worksheet to record your finding and review Understanding Deeds and Indexes before you go. You will also want to make copies of the deeds you find as you will refer back to them frequently as you continue your research. The actual deed lists all of the official owners of the property, usually including both the husband and the wife's name, while the index to the deeds will often only list one member.

You may discover that there are gaps in the deed records because property passed from one owner to another through a mortgage or a will. A lot of these records, as well as others, are kept in the Hall of Records, but researching them will require additional research time. Two excellent sites for understanding what other records are available are the Coos County Records Inventory, an Oregon Historical County Records guide, and Connie Lenzen's Oregon Guide for Genealogists.

You may also find that you can follow the trail of the property by going back to the original plat maps and using the subdivision/addition information to locate the original sale of the property. Here, you can follow the trail from the beginning forward, rather than through the  previous owner. Once you have identified one or more families that owned your house, you are ready to continue finding out more about the individuals that lived in your house and to create their biographies.

Go to Biographies >>






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Last updated Nov 2006