The Coos County Home Historian

Introduction

House history is rapidly becoming a popular pastime as more people discover the fun and educational value of researching the history of a home. Anyone can become a house detective – either for your own home or another one that fascinates you in your area.

One of the main attractions of house history is that it uses a lot of the same resources as genealogical research, but is often easier and more fruitful because the records needed are often located within your own community. As you conduct your research, you will unearth clues about the lives of former inhabitants, as well as discovering more about the community you live in.

The purpose of this website is to offer specific guidance to the home historian in the Coos County, Oregon area, but can also be used by anyone in the United States as a basic guide. This site provides a step-by-step guide to researching your house, navigating the vast array of documentary sources, and gives you suggestions on what to do with your information - including how to format your information as a web page.

The first step begins with a trip to the County Court House to determine two critical pieces of information – how your house is described in the early records and the names of the former inhabitants. This can be a daunting task, especially if you are unfamiliar with reading old records or script/cursive writing. To help with this process, each step will be explained with tips along the way.

Go to County Records >>

The clues you found by looking at the court house records will form the foundation for your house history, but they don’t tell you much about the inhabitants themselves. With even one name of a former owner you are ready to begin doing some basic genealogical research. Using some basic genealogical forms, the next step is to review online resources like the census records, to look for clues in your local libraries and to examine old newspapers.

Go to Biographies >>

As you discover the former inhabitants of your home, now you can begin adding information to their stories by combining it with architectural clues you find in your house. What you see inside and outside the house, in conjunction with insurance maps and changes in ownership can help document when changes were made. Each clue sheds light on the needs of the family as they changed the house over time.

Go to Architectural Clues >>

One of the most important features of this site is its unique document gallery, which allows you to view examples of some of the most common forms of documentary evidence.

Go to Sample Documents >>

When you have reached the point in your research that you are ready to share your information with others, a case study has been included to show you how to organize your findings for the Internet.

Go to Case Study >>

No site is a definitive answer to everyone’s questions and cannot possibly cover all of the wealth of information available both in print and on the Internet. Therefore, a list of important publications and additional Internet links is provided. Furthermore, you can e-mail the Coos County Historical Society for additional help or suggestions.

Go to Useful Links >>