UpFront with NGS: House Histories

Showing posts with label House Histories. Show all posts

21 April 2015

Surprise -- Rental Property Actually Oldest House in NC (almost 300 years old)

It’s not unusual to hear stories when someone is renovating a home or building that they find hidden documents or that a neat bit of architecture has been covered over with more modern materials.

In this case, some owners were renovating their house to be used as a rental property when a carpenter, who had renovated historic properties before, “recognized that the house was far older than it appeared.”

Over time ...

Also revealed were overhead beams featuring a decorative edging known as ogee moulding used in homes 300 years ago, Thomas said. Evidence shows four staircases existed over different periods. Signs of two massive mud-and-straw fireplaces common in the early 1700s show up in the two front rooms. Piers under the house were made from ballast stones from 18th century sailing ships

You can read more about the original “reveal” and the first 3 years of discovery via Edenton couple’s house turns out to be oldest in NC. This article also includes 12 photos of the house highlighting certain features.

Earlier this month, the house was opened to the public for Edenton’s annual 2015 Pilgrimage of Historic Homes and Gardens.

I always enjoy reading about new discoveries of things that are old. It tells me that there are probably some more hidden gems waiting to be found!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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14 October 2014

Doing a House History (aka Genealogy of a House) -- FREE Guide & other resources

Source: House Histories, House and Suburban Histories from South East Queensland, http://www.househistories.org/

Though we often find ourselves researching the people in our family, we sometimes find ourselves researching the history of a house.

I first talked to you about the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office in the post Historic Preservation Maps Can be Invaluable to Genealogists where I talk about HPOWEB, a GIS map service which identifies identified historic properties.

They’ve now created a neat & FREE resource, Genealogy of a House: Sources for Researching the History of Your House. I also suggest that you check out House Histories – How to Trace the Genealogy of Your Home or Other Building (About.com, Kimberly Powell), Researching Historic Washington, D.C., Buildings (Library of Congress), and House Histories – House and Suburban Histories from South East Queensland, for perspectives on the tools and techniques for researching a house history.

Though the focus of the publications are NC, DC, and Australia, they all provide valuable insight into how to perform the genealogy of a house and some of the tools which may aid you in that pursuit.. Additionally, if these resources exist for doing a house history in these locales, maybe your state or the state you’re interested in has similar resources available to researchers.

Have you done a house history? What resources were invaluable?

13 October 2014

US Census also tells the stories of towns and communities

We often use census data as a tool to research our family members, and focus almost exclusively on learning more about them. An article by Justin Pot (Make Use of), Your Town Has A Story, Here’s How Census Data Can Help You See It.

A coal miner earning $540 a year lived near downtown Boulder, Colorado in 1940. One of his neighbours, a cook at a frat house, earned a little more: $770. If you live in Boulder, as I do, you’d know that even adjusted for inflation that kind of pay wouldn’t cover rent here in 2014. Clearly this town has changed a lot – something any longtime local will tell you.

I learned this, and a lot of other fascinating things, by exploring census data for my town. Here’s how you can do your own research – it’s easy, I promise.

His article reminds us that census data can tell us much more and provide great context to our understanding of a community at the time an ancestor lived there

What he calls the Census Tool is one of the wonderful resources created by Stephen P Morse, creator of numerous One-Step Webpages, and in this case Joel D Weintraub --- The Unified (Year) Census ED Finder.

Do also check out the United States Census Bureau, Data Tools and Apps page for quite a collection of interesting and useful resources.

Even if the tools mentioned are not new to you, sometimes we need reminding of the rich data the census provides us with. Whether you are getting a sense of a neighborhood, its composition, cost of living, etc, for your personal history research project or doing a house history, census date is an invaluable “snapshot” of the U.S. as a country, a collection of states, our many counties, individual towns, right on down to the personal level of each individual enumerated.

Editor’s Note: Thanks to Dick Eastman (EOGN) and one of his readers for bringing this to our attention.

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Want to learn more about interacting with the blog, please read Hyperlinks, Subscribing and Comments -- How to Interact with Upfront with NGS Blog posts!

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Follow NGS via Facebook, YouTube, Google+, Twitter