Who & When
Digging Deeper
This is where the real research begins. Once you have your research foundation, you can search for who lived in the house before and hopefully find information about who they were, how they lived, and any updates or renovations they did to your house.
​
At this point, the best place to search is in city directories. City directories list homeowners and renters, their spouses, and their occupations. You can even find information about how long someone lived in a house in more recent city directories.
​
Once you know who lived in the house before you, you can search for them in local newspapers to learn more about their lives. You can also try searching newspapers for your address or neighborhood for more information.
​
Lastly, you can use genealogy resources to find even more information about who lived in the house before. Census data is a great place to start!
Resources
City Directories available online:
​
City Directories available in person:
​
​
​
Newspapers:
​
​
​
Genealogy Records:
-
US Census (up to 1950)
-
Ancestry Library Edition (through your local library)
Here is a video on researching city directories, published by the Allen County Public Library in Indiana in collaboration with the New York Public Library.
GenealogyInTime Magazine has published a list of abbreviations you might find in city directories:
