• put together a "Guide to Researching your Historic Home in Blair"? -- an informational pamphlet that would guide others through basic steps and point them to helpful resources.
• develop a public program on "How to Research a Blair Property"
• gather ideas that can be used to develop a standard research model for all properties
• identify local resources for local research

Resources
(Ask Eldora about how to research properties in the County Court house.)
 

• Historic Buildings: Issues in Preservation and Protection   good reading
• Guild to Researching Old Buildings -Kansas State Historic Society

• Sanborn Maps
• Plat Maps and Atlases
• Property Abstract - The property abstract, if available, is the first place to look for clues to the date of your house. In the days before title insurance came into widespread use, a document proving a chain of title was usually prepared by a professional abstractor when a property changes hands. The previous property owner may have a copy of the abstract. Included in the abstract will be references to deeds, mortgages, wills, probate records, court actions and tax sales relevant to the property's history. This listing will reveal to you who owned the lot, how long it was owned, and the price of purchase.
  Financial transactions in the abstract can help to pinpoint the date a house was built. A sizeable increase in price from one sale to the next is a good indication that some sore of capital improvement, such as the construction of a dwelling, was made to the property.
• DEED -- Deeds are records of land ownership and transactions. In Washington County, they can date back ___1865_______  (The first land survey). They reveal much more than ownership, however. They may also give information about relative land values, about who could hold land, and about relationships between people. Deeds are useful to genealogists, those buying and selling land, and those wishing to find information about particular times or events. To find out the history of a piece of real estate, the researcher can work backward or forward from one deed to the next. Each deed tells who conveyed the right of possession of the land to whom. The list of owners in succession is called the chain of title. Trying to reconstruct the chain of title by searching through the deeds is called a title search.
  
  
  

  Deeds were recorded in a central place, according to law. This location differed from state to state. For example, in Massachusetts and Maine, deed registries are found in the courthouses of the counties in which the transaction took place. Counties changed over time, so information about deeds for one piece of land might be found in two or more locations. In some other states such as Connecticut and Rhode Island, towns recorded deeds. This was not always the case in the American West. Furthermore, very early deeds might be found in central state archives. Deeds, probate records, and court decrees--three kinds of records that can show property changing hands --are usually found in the same location.
  
  
  
  
  

  Some registries of deeds have posted information, indexes, and all or part of their holdings on their Web sites, available through the internet. This saves traveling for researchers and wear and tear on the original documents. Some sites require fees for access while others do not. If you do not know the registry's Web address, start by looking for the official state site and work from there.
  
  
  

  (see example of deed)

   

• Provide resources in Conservation, Restoration and Rehabilitation
• Provide Resources in Grants and other funding
• Provide Resources in Zoning and Coding issues
   

• http://www.kshs.org/resource/oldbuildings.htm
• Guide to Architectural Styles
  • http://www.realtor.org/rmomag.NSF/pages/archindex?OpenDocument=
  • http://www.realtor.org/rmomag.nsf/pages/arch33
  • http://railroad.union.rpi.edu/images/structures/Architecture.asp
  • http://www.rchsonline.org/ar_mans.htm

Tracing and documenting the history

• provides evidence of the significance of the buildings
• record of ownership
• description of the original style, design, condition or situation
• record of modifications, changes or improvements
• details on the people and events associated with it
• general information about the original development or construction
• type of building
  • terminology about property ownership and transfer
  • terminology about architectural styles  Resource
• correct legal description
• deed or the tax assessor's office
• abstract of the property

From County Courthouse

• such as deed records
• building permits
• plat maps
• land surveys
• wills and tax receipts
   

From local libraries, museums and historical societies

• city directories
• insurance maps
• newspaper files
• street maps
• community histories
• historic periodicals and magazines
• biographies
• archives of original documents, such as letters, diaries, and photographs.

From private sources

• letters, diaries, photographs, or household inventories.
• personal remembrances, or oral histories

From  physical evidence at the historic building

Anyone who has ever lived in an old house knows that they have a personality all their own: a combination of squeaky boards, old wall papers, tales of previous owners, all wrapped up into that "feeling" that you get when you walk in the door. These architectural treasures, from log cabin to palatial mansion, each have a story to tell, and each year more owners, renters or just plain interested parties come forward in search of everything known about a certain building.

Most people want to know when the house was built, by whom, who lived there, and information on the various owners. Sometimes this is easy to find, other times you can spend hours with little to no result.

Building Permits
Old photos: if your building is clearly visible from several typical photo spots, you may be able to get an approximate date of construction, or at least a good starting point.
Sanborn fire maps: The Sanborn company produced insurance maps for towns through the years. These maps show buildings, outbuildings, water and sewer lines, and other information which would be helpful for fire departments or insurance companies. The outline of the building, porches, doors and building materials can be very helpful when looking for additions or changes to the design of a building.
Newspaper references: If you are lucky, you may be able to find a reference to your structure being built or remodeled, possibly the name of the builder or architect, although this information is quite unusual. An exact quote is an exciting find, but unless you have a good idea of the time frame, this may take hours or days of work. Remember, just because you don’t find the information where you think it should be you still need to keep looking. Just like the dictionary, if you don’t find a word where you are looking, you may need to look somewhere else. Unlike the dictionary, however, sometimes the information just doesn’t exist, especially if your building was constructed in the middle of a "building boom." Tax Records: the theory behind using tax records for dating a structure is quite simple: the year the house is built there should be a substantial jump in the assessed valuation. The theory is sound, but subject to problems. For example, since there were no building permits, an assessor might not be aware of a new building being built. . .or, there might have been an early building on the site which is torn down or burned down and rebuilt immediately, without a change in the assessed valuation; or, you may run into a reappraisal year where everyone’s taxes jump 10 to 50%. In addition, you need to remember that the taxes for 1885 are collected in 1886, the listing of these dates may be inconsistent from one office to the next or from one year to the next. The larger the house, the easier it is to use tax records.
If you have an "abstract of title" or a listing of all owners of the property, you can start your research with one of the earliest listings and see if the owner is paying taxes on a vacant lot or a lot with "improvements" (generally a building of some type, but occasionally they will be talking about a fence!) and go back or forward in time depending upon what you find. Keep in mind that the abstract of title will start with the first transfer of land from the federal government to the town, then the town to the first private owner. This first date of transfer may or may not be an indication of the date of construction.
If you do not have an "abstract of title" you will need to find a starting point. Through the years the assessor’s office kept a set of documents called "block books" which are a listing of owners by lot and block.
Grantee/grantor records: are indexes to deeds of record kept by the county clerk. The "grantee" is the buyer; the "grantor" is the seller. If you know that Mr. Jones owned the property in 1874 but you don’t find him in the 1873 tax records, you need to check the grantee index, under Jones, to see if there is a deed from someone (maybe a Mr. Smith) to Mr. Jones. If so, then you should check the deed to see if there is a reference to a house (if you are very lucky). If not, you would switch to following the tax records of Mr. Smith as you work your way back.

• Follow-up with the County Clerks Office
  Ask for a tour of the deed records vault from Karen Madsen-  County Clerks Office
       abstract information only  (transfer of deeds)
       No charge
       need legal description
       photos of county props.
       have plat books from the very beginning of Blair.

Blair Abstract & Title Co
1904 South  Blair  NE    68008
426-4844 

Blair Abstract & Title Co Closing Office
706 S 19th  Blair  NE    68008
426-9191

Washington County Abstract and Title Co.
P.O. Box 627 - 1650 Washington St.
Blair, NE 68008
426-2385
wcatcjen@HunTel.net
Carolyn A. Brenneis
Jen English

Real Estate Deeds
Deeds may be recorded for many reasons. Among them might be:

- the family is moving into or out of a locality
- a family member has died (or is about to die)
- a newly married couple is purchasing their first piece of farm land
- the head of the family is leaving farming to take up a new occupation

There are excellent deed records available back to the 1850's. ???

The deeds are well indexed by Grantor and by Grantee surname.

If you have an interest in locating your ancestor's homestead, one of the difficulties you will encounter will be interpreting the metes and bounds as they are hand written on the deed. Many early deeds define boundaries by references to "3 small white oaks" or "a large beech" or some similarly impermanent natural feature. Fortunately, they also often make reference to a lot number, adjoining property ownership, or other more helpful detail, and some (the exception) actually have drawn maps of the boundaries.

• A typical deed index page looks like this.
• A typical deed looks like this.

Trace the deeds.
acquire the eight digit tax parcel number for the property you are researching. -- County Tax Office??  (Tax parcel numbers are also available on the tax maps)

That "year built" information is not always meant to be historically accurate.

Look up the current deed to the property, using the information you acquired in the Tax Office at the Register of Deeds Office

You need to know two terms. Grantor is the seller of property. Grantee is the buyer of property. Hence, the current owner of the property will be listed as the Grantee. The seller will be the Grantor. You need to know when the current Grantor was a Grantee. Usually, the previous deed will be mentioned in the present deed. If not, you will have to look up the present Grantor in the Grantee Indexes. Using this method, trace the deeds back to the period in which the structure on the property was erected. Write down the name of all Grantors and Grantees and the dates of the transfer of property. You might encounter instances when one of your parties is a Grantor in a Deed of Trust. That is simply a means by which a buyer puts up his property as collateral for a loan. There will typically be a reference as to when the Deed of Trust was satisfied.

County Assessor's Office Property Records
Used for: Getting addresses for people and the properties they own, and lists of their neighbors; looking up the address of a piece of property by checking book, block and parcel maps.

County Recorder's Office Property Deeds and Other Filings
Used for: Getting addresses for people, the property they own, loans they have received or made, loans on which they have fallen behind in their payments or defaulted, liens filed against them, including IRS tax liens, lawsuits they have lost, and liquor licenses they hold.
Most of the documents filed with the recorder's office have to do with real estate transactions. For example, when a person purchases a home, the property deed is filed with the recorder's office. Similarly, when a person takes out a mortgage loan to buy a home, the "deed of trust" describing the loan is filed with the recorder's office. Other documents filed with the recorder include notices of default and auctions of property on delinquent mortgage loans, liens placed on property by tax agencies and private contractors for failure to pay bills, purchases of liquor licenses and some partnership papers (usually real estate partnerships).

Step
Trace the deeds.

Step
Check Last Wills and Testaments. -- Estate Records Office

Step
Check Court Records.
There are two additional terms you need to know. A Plaintiff is a party who initiates an action in court. A Defendant is a party who refutes an action brought against him, her, it or them in court. Here again, this information is a matter of public record. You are not snooping. Check to see if any of the individuals on your list of Grantors and Grantees is listed in the Plaintiff Indexes or the Defendant Indexes. If so, copy down the reference number and ask the person at the desk to bring you the appropriate court records.

Step
Check Vital Statistics. County is obligated by law to maintain vital statistics on human beings. These records exist from the early 20th century in most instances. They include Birth Certificates, issued at the birth of every human being who is born in the County; Death Certificates, issued at the death of every human being who dies in the County; and Marriage Licenses, issued for every couple who wishes to become legally married in the County. Obviously, these documents can reveal much about the lives of the individuals on your lists of Grantors and Grantees. You can learn when people were born, when they died, the cause of their death, whom they married, the names of their parents, etc. Record all of this data so you can use it later in your research. Remember that these documents exist only if the event involved occurred in the County.

Step
Check Cemetery Records

Step
Historic photographs are valuable tools in determining the original appearance of a building.

Step
Read Obituary Articles. The great majority of people have the most written about them in the newspaper articles that comment upon their lives after they die. Unfortunately, few newspapers are indexed. The best way to find the obituary article of an individual is to look in the newspaper for the first few days following the individual's death. You should have obtained that date already in your research. The local newspapers are on microfilm and are located in the Blair Public Library.

Step
Check the Sanborn Insurance Maps. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Sanborn Maps were periodically drawn for cities and towns throughout the United States. The maps for Charlotte and Davidson are located in the Spangler-Robinson Room. The maps, which were drawn for fire insurance adjusters, depict the layout of the town and show where every building was located. Look up your property on the various Sanborn Maps and notice the overall neighborhood, street layouts, etc. Pay particular attention to the outline of the house and the location of outbuildings, such as garages, sheds, etc. A particularly important bit of information is the house number at the time the map was drawn. You will find it at the front edge of the lot. This is an important number for you to retain, because street numbers, even street names, change over the years.

Step
Check Building Permits. Since the early 1900's, cities and towns have been required to issue permits before a building can be constructed or materially altered.

Step
Check City Directories. City Directories are compiled by private companies, not municipalities, and they tell who actually lived in each building. Occupants are arranged both by street and alphabetically. Again, you need to make sure that you use the different street addresses that have been assigned to the property over the years. City Directories also give information about the occupations of occupants.

Step
Conduct Personal Interviews. If you are lucky, you will learn the names of living relatives of previous owners. You should interview as many of these people as possible. It is particularly valuable if you can obtain photographs. Certainly, you can obtain interviews with the current owners and occupants.

This is a guide to some of the public records available at government offices in ------------ that are most commonly used to research the background of people and businesses. Almost all the records are available to the general public and do not require filing formal public records requests. There is no charge for looking at almost all of these records, although fees are usually charged for copying them. In most cases you locate the records by using a computer terminal at the government office that keeps the records, although some records are still indexed using microfiche.

how to research

Researching a house in Blair Nebraska

Need Legal Description First
Obtain this from:

• Tax Statement
• Abstract
• County Assistors office.  ( Need Street Address)

Examples of Legal Descriptions:

Lot 5 in Block 118 Eleventh Addition, City of Blair   (1476 Adams Street N. Kramer)

With a Legal Description – go to the Registry of Deeds in the County Clerks Office.    Karen Madsen, Register of Deeds,    PO Box 446   Blair , NE 68008    (402)426-6824

• This is the location of the Public Deed records vault
• There are Public Records
• There is no charge for using them  (but may be charge is a copy is needed.)
• This office a plat books from the very beginning of Blair
• Also have the commercial plat books from 1892, 1908, & 1923.

Recorder of deeds refers to the government office that maintains records of transfers of real estate, as well as many other public documents. The individual holding the office is also known as the Recorder of Deeds. The title varies in different jurisdictions; variations include County Recorder , Register of Deeds, Registrar of Deeds, or Registrar of Titles; in some areas, this function is part of the county clerk's responsibilities.

The purpose of having a recorder of deeds is to provide a single location where interested parties can know to look for information about who owns what property. Because estate in land can be held in so many complex ways, a single location where such claims can be found provides some stability. Each document recorded against title to real estate can be examined and the portion of the bundle of rights that it includes can be determined. Documents describing real estate ownership that are regularly recorded include deeds, mortgages, mechanics liens, and releases, plats, among others. To allow full access to deeds recorded throughout the office history, several indexes are also maintained, which include grantor-grantee indexes, tract indexes, and plat maps.

Look in _________  Books  under the Addition.

    With-in this addition, there should be the Block Number
            Then the Lot number.
             Transaction will be listed chronological order.

             This should give you the volume and page number where the deed is recorded

At the registry of deeds:  (to trace the changes of ownership of the property back through the years.)
Look in the grantee index for an index of buyers.
Look in the grantor index for an index of sellers.

You may also trace your property through the mortgage indexes.

Other Resources

   Alpha Index by Owner ???
   Numberical Index by Township/Towns & Sections

Kinds of Instruments
   Mtge = Mortgage

   WD  =  Warrant Deeds  (Warranty??)
   Rlse  =  Releases
   Asgt =
   Cert =

   Deeds of Trust, Power of Attorney, Liens, Plats,
 deeds of trust, plats and any other documents that affect a specific piece of land in the county

Terms:

          Paten
          Grant of Deeds

Need Names of ____  office at the courthouse names.

 ________________________   Registry of Deeds

 ________________________ ????????

Abstract Companies

    Dave O’Hanlon

     Carolyn Brenneis, manager    402-426-2385
      1626 Washington Street   ( P.O. Box 627 )
           

Telephone directories

http://www.detroit.lib.mi.us/burton/burton_index.htm

Preservation Plan

http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/hp/smartgrowth/HP_Plan_01-05.pdf
What information can you find at the Assistors Office about homes?

• Square footage & Improvements
• Folder form ???
• Current Photo
• Legal Discription & Parcel ID #
•  

http://dohistory.org/on_your_own/toolkit/deeds_form.html

http://dohistory.org/on_your_own/toolkit/deeds.html