OT: Finding previous owners

[kandeebunny]

I am only posting this here because I hang out on this board so much!

I am trying to find a list of names of previous owners of the house I grew up in (my family still owns it and has since the 1970s)

Is there a way to locate this information online? Or somewhere to go to find it out? Back in the 1970's not all deaths in the house had to be disclosed, and recently we have begun to wonder if we have a ghost. I know the first name, just trying to find out more.

 

[StephMK]

I think you should be able to go to your county's real estate office & look at back records. I know I can find info online showing previous owners by address but I don't think it goes back as far as you need. You could check there first just to see. I looked up our county's website, checked real estate assessment & somewhere in the tax info, you can find current tax info & owners.

Good luck! My grandfather died in his sleep in my parent's basement many years ago & every now & then someone outside the family has thought they've seen something odd down there. Creeps me out a little but my brother kept his room there for years w/no issues. What type of things are happening?

 

[kandeebunny]

Odd dreams, creaking, smells of smoke (cigar and no one smokes), losing things and finding them somewhere you JUST looked, real drain of energy. It's been quite interesting, I keep moving, but keep getting drawn back to that house, and I ALWAYS have waaaaay less energy there than I do anywhere else.

I just e-mailed the town librarian (I am currently in FL and looking for info about a house in NH) I am going to check the county website now as the town website was no help. The house was built in the 1920's no idea what was on that land before.

Thanks!

 

[gonemousin']

We owned a very old house (our first house) and while restoring it, we started wondering about the people who lived there before us. We went to our town hall and researched the land records to find the history of our house's owners. We spent a couple hours paging through volumes of old books - it was a BLAST!! In our case we did it in person - I'm not sure if they would have accepted a written request for the info (didn't need to research that possibility), but it certainly wouldn't hurt to call your town and ask. Good luck!!

 

[jennifer293]

ohhh how interesting...I would just go to the courthouse and research the records. It could get very costly if you have them do it for you if they even will at all.

 

[scrapquitler]

This is a matter of public record, and that information should be available from the city hall/town hall of your town...all property records are kept forever by the city (that is how they do a title search when you buy/sell a home). Call the town clerk's office and they should be able to set you on the right track...they may do the research for you, or they may allow you to do it, depending on your town.

 

[goofyforlife]

I kinda look at deeds as part of my job...

You should be able to look at the deed description for the current house. It should reference the previous owners and deed. If you look at that previous deed it should describe the deed before that....

Some states/counties have the deed information online too

Not sure about NH. My experience is with MD.

 

[stacieps]

NH deeds are mostly available online (all except Carroll County). You can find most Registry of Deeds at www.nhdeeds.com, except Merrimack County, which can be found at http://www.merrimackcounty.nh.us.landata.com/. The counties on the nhdeeds site let you view the documents for free, you have to pay on the Merrimack County site. You would look under "grantee" for your family member that owns the house. The deed will say who sold it to them. If you need to go further back, you just then look up the seller's name as grantee and you will see who sold it to them.

Hopefully you will be lucky and the property will be in one of the counties easily available online!

I do this often (I work in a law firm in NH), let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[kandeebunny]

Thanks!!! I hit a road block, I got back to 1919 and the original owner of the land, then theres a huge blank to 1961...so I'm lost again!!! LOL!

 

[Poohgirl]

Check the tax assessment records from the town or county website. When I was checking mine you could check for previous sales and tax data of the property and I could trace it back through the owners to the builder. The site I used was www.patriotproperties.com but different towns use different assessors.

 

[#1hockeymom]

Wasn't this information in your title search when you bought the house? Go grab your title and give it a look. I know our title search even showed that three pigs and a goat were sold with it back at the turn of the century.

 

[Floridagal23]

You need to get a thorough title assessment and search. You may have to cross reference other books (ie probate stuff) if someone received the home as a gift under a will. Not every state uses the same method of filing so it can be difficult. Good luck!

 

[kandeebunny]

Looks like I will have a project when I go back to NH for the summer. (Like I said it keeps drawing me back...very freaky.)

The title is in a lovely safe deposit box up there, so I'll have Mom pull it!