How did I know which house my grandfather lived in 1920?

In this blogspot I like to share the background of the steps I took to discover the information I share about my family. Yes, sometimes it would be nice if our families would save photos, land deeds, places of occupation, and their histories in neat little folders in legible print for us to find. But alas! My family did not do this for me. In my Hayley blog this week, my father (as a guest writer) to the blogspot posted photos of himself in front of the house his father lived in as a teenager.

The address was derived from the 1920 census



Of course this census page is too small to read here. But if you were to look it up and enhance it, You would find the address for this family is 319 Eighth Street. Now the problem I encountered when I got to Hutchinson, Kansas was there are two 319 Eighth Streets! So again referring to the same census page --- I discovered the close cross streets and was able to decipher that it was East Eighth Street that was the correct address.



Here is a photo of my father standing in front of the house number: For more photos of this house please visit: http://reedhayley.blogspot.com/2010/09/319-east-eighth-street-hutchinson.html




Because the census indicated the house was owned and free of debt, I went to the RENO county courthouse to review the land records.



OK I dressed for comfort, walking shoes, no make up, I will try harder next time.

Inside I photographed some of the architecture features of the building. The court house as many are, was absolutely beautiful.