[contributed to RenovateDSM by Jennifer Irsfeld James, MAHP]

These two questions can often be answered via the same research route. An important piece of the puzzle is to determine when the house was built – what’s listed in the assessor’s database is not always accurate. A lot of the history of a home is the history of the families who have lived there.

Assessor Construction Date

Public records are key resources in any search.

Check the Polk County Assessor’s web site for the listing on your house. It should include the date it was constructed.

This date may be accurate, or it may not. I say that having studied several blocks of the Drake Neighborhood, comparing assessor dates, Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps (we’ll talk about this later), and other info and found errors of 20 or more years. Purging of records has resulted in the destruction/loss of original photographs and assessor’s records.

City Building Permits

Building permit records might exist that include the date of construction and price of the house, particularly for houses built in the mid 20th century. Unfortunately, the city purged its building records in the 1950s, leaving only the post-1920 building permit log and none of the actual records. If you have a post-1920 home, try this resource. Call the Community Development Center for help.

Abstract

To find out who owned your property, trace the ownership chain from the abstract of title, copying the names of previous owners from that document. The abstract lists the record of when the land was sold – it usually doesn’t list when a house was built.

Here's what I've done: look through the abstract and on a sheet of paper write down each transaction. (ex. 1848 U.S. government sells land to XX).

Abstracts sometimes include lawsuits that involve the property -- this can be helpful -- so note any info that's additional to the land sales.

And plat maps are helpful tools, too.

If you don’t have an abstract, photocopy the property deeds, which are housed at the office of the county recorder.

Note: I have found that the sale date listed in the abstract is often later than when the family moved in. It appears that the sale date indicates when they paid off their mortgage -- before the 1930s or so, mortgages were often only 5 years long -- so a family really had to save up money before buying a house. That was true for our house -- the 1909 city directory shows the Kinney family living in our house, but the deed is dated with a sale date of 1914.

City Directories

These precursors to telephone books offer a wealth of information.

Cross-reference the list of landowners from the abstract with old city directories, but keep in mind that often land was subdivided and changed hands more than once before a house was built.

When you find your first match, you’ve roughly pinpointed the year of construction. A house may have been built the year or so before the listing appeared in the city directory.

Beware of street names and numbers that have changed. (Cottage Grove Ave. was once Wood Street, for example.)

It’s possible that the owner did not live at the address. Starting in 1908, the city directories include the standard alphabetical list and also a cross-reference street address listing.

Note what occupation is listed, if any – this may be helpful for further research.

Also look to see if any other people are listed as living there. Sometimes families took in boarders -- so write that down, too.

State and Federal Census

State and federal censuses, taken every five years. Some list residents by address, although the 1895 state census does not. And the 1890 federal census was destroyed in a fire.

Look for all the residents: borders? Servants?
Occupations? (can use this for further research)
Religion (ditto)
Nationality (ditto)

Genaeology Records

See the web site ancestry.com and familytreemagazine.com for more information, plus visit State Historical Library and Iowa Genealogy Society, www.iowagenealogy.org.
Also look at Who’s Who directories, wills, birth/death/marriage certificates/records, etc.