What government or genealogy site will tell me who lived in my grandparents house in the 1940s ?

Answer 1

I would go to the local library in the town where your grandparents resided. Many libraries keep old directories of their town. Some directories have the capability to look up a street and see the names of all of the surrounding neighbors. Some genealogy sites have a directory or two on them for various towns, but this is more the exception than the rule. The government sites don't have directories on them. Truthfully, the library is the best bet.

If you want to look at deed records, you will have to check the county clerks office in the county where your grandparents lived.

Answer 2

You're not telling us which country you're in, so we can only give you general answers for our own little corner of the world. Everyone's right to a degree...but that assumes that house was standing in the 1940s. The real place to get the whole answer is to go to your County Recorder of Deeds office and find out the whole history of the property. You look up what's called the "plat number", which is much more detailed than 1902 S. Sheridan St. Then you pull the deed books for that plat number and it will tell you the whole history of the house and the land upon which it sits.

It will tell you if in 1951 there was a permit to build a house after a fire destroyed the original dwelling and that a mortgage for $5200 was taken out by Mr. _____ and Mrs. ______ payable to Chase Bank. They'll tell you that the house that burned was built in 1902 at a cost of $523 by ______ and there was no mortgage taken on the property at that time, but that in 1932 a lien was placed on the house by Steve's Hardware for $157 and it was paid off 4 years later. And you'll find out that the land was originally bought by Col. Robert Sawyer in 1802 for $1 as part of a larger plot, then deforested and subdivided into smaller plots, each being resold and that your piece was originally sold to your ggggrandfather for $7.

But that might be more information than you want. But once you read the history of a property, it really is fascinating.

Answer 3

Counties (or other similar entities, such as parishes) keep deeds on file (probably in microfilm form) detailing the history of ownership of a particular piece of property. Voting records also note registered voters living at a particular address since voting is based on precinct. The last US Census for which records are available is in 1930.

Write or e-mail the county where your grandparents lived to obtain this information. You may need to pay a small fee to obtain this information if you don't visit the County Clerk's office yourself.

Answer 4

HSK's Moma nailed it. City directories have "Reverse Listings"; the first entry is 100 "A" street, then 104 "A" street and so on. Libraries in the USA have old copies, sometimes. Libraries in the UK, Canada etc. should too. Try there.

The Web is wonderful, but 99% of all stored data is in books, not on the web.

Answer 5

Get a local phone book / city business directory from the 40s and look up the address.

Answer 6

While knowing who owned the residence is one thing, it may or may not tell who lived there if it was rented or leased out. Electoral rolls or city directories might be a first bet for that reason.

Answer 7

The court house or city hall has the complete history in the deed of records.

Answer 8

I would suggest the local library and check the electorial role for a particular year/s. Should all be there.

Answer 9

I have seen this on genes reunited,but there are other sites out there.Go to google and ask the same question.

Answer 10

Go to your local library's archive section and look at the electoral rolls for that year, they'll tell you.