Some Library Research, Digging Through History
I spent a few hours at the library recently researching the city directories, obits, yearbooks etc. I'm gathering information for my house's scrapbook that someday I will pass on to new owners. Hopefully, the new people will love this house, too.
I'm trying to be careful with my posts about the family as 3 of the sisters are still alive but we haven't had contact with them. There are a lot of questions, though, I'd love to ask them but for now, I won't bother them. They took it personally when we offered less than the asking price. They lived here all of their lives so they must not have known about negotiating prices. They thought the house was worth much more, but that was understandable with all the memories tied up here. They are up there in their years and they no longer could care for the place. There was and is a lot of labor involved in maintaining an old house. It was getting too much for them. They moved to a modern apartment.
When we bought the house, some of our neighbors told us some about what they knew of the former owners. There were 5 sisters and one brother born to the previous owners. None of the children ever married and all but one of them lived here their whole lives until we bought the house. That struck me odd.
The previous owners were the first family to occupy the house other than the builder. Our house was built in 1917 and the husband and wife moved into the house around 1920. They had a son about 1919. So that was my quest at the library. Find out about the son, first.
I knew the mother had died and found her obit. I found the son's name as having died previously in 1925. I was surprised at the date. I looked up his obit. He was only 6 years old. Somehow I had built a connection to these former owners and seeing that almost made me cry. He died in St Vincent hospital and was going to have a quarantined funeral. When people said he never married I assumed he was much older when he died. I cannot imagine the sorrow of losing someone at such an innocent age and I wonder what he died of.
The library announced they were closing so I had to leave. I'm going to return to look up the newspaper microfilm and see if I can find out what he died of or what kind of diseases happened to be going around at the time.
I'm trying to be careful with my posts about the family as 3 of the sisters are still alive but we haven't had contact with them. There are a lot of questions, though, I'd love to ask them but for now, I won't bother them. They took it personally when we offered less than the asking price. They lived here all of their lives so they must not have known about negotiating prices. They thought the house was worth much more, but that was understandable with all the memories tied up here. They are up there in their years and they no longer could care for the place. There was and is a lot of labor involved in maintaining an old house. It was getting too much for them. They moved to a modern apartment.
When we bought the house, some of our neighbors told us some about what they knew of the former owners. There were 5 sisters and one brother born to the previous owners. None of the children ever married and all but one of them lived here their whole lives until we bought the house. That struck me odd.
The previous owners were the first family to occupy the house other than the builder. Our house was built in 1917 and the husband and wife moved into the house around 1920. They had a son about 1919. So that was my quest at the library. Find out about the son, first.
I knew the mother had died and found her obit. I found the son's name as having died previously in 1925. I was surprised at the date. I looked up his obit. He was only 6 years old. Somehow I had built a connection to these former owners and seeing that almost made me cry. He died in St Vincent hospital and was going to have a quarantined funeral. When people said he never married I assumed he was much older when he died. I cannot imagine the sorrow of losing someone at such an innocent age and I wonder what he died of.
The library announced they were closing so I had to leave. I'm going to return to look up the newspaper microfilm and see if I can find out what he died of or what kind of diseases happened to be going around at the time.
Labels: family history, geneology, old houses
posted by Erie's Argonaut at 4/03/2007 02:08:00 AM
2 Comments:
It sounds like you've already learned quite a bit. You are very lucky. And the six siblings that never married is really bizarre. Makes you wonder if it wasn't something genetic that affected their behavior or physique. The little boy dying is quite sad but wasn't all that unusual back then; still it's heartbreaking.
My house was built around 1895 which isn't all that long ago when you look at the age of some of the houses but what has thrown a wrench in my searchings is the fact it was moved from it's original build site in 1958 and the very chunk of city directories I need to find out who first inhabited the house are there but they are not organized by street the way the later directories were, just names. It actually came down to a microfiche index card in the library. And the very one card I needed had been purloined. It was irreplacable. I was so frustrated I gave up but I may take up the challenge again someday.
I look forward to hearing more.
My father was about that same age in '25 and I remember him talking about being quarantined in his room with Scarlet fever... my mother-in-law and her mother were also quarantined in one bedroom for the duration of a bout of Scarlet fever. Because it could prove deadly for young children, I wonder if that was the cause of death -seeing that there was quarantine attached. But there were so many more deaths from common childhood diseases in those days!
Maybe his death certificate is in a public file?
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