Who lived there?

One of my favorite activities is genealogy, discovering more about my family history.  This week the speaker at the East Bay Genealogical Society discussed city directories (not telephone books) and how they can help the researcher.  In the past I have found relatives listed in various books, confirming addresses and occupations, and even one family member who told me he didn't remember living at that address.  (A mystery!)  After the meeting I came home and began to research the previous owners of our new house.  We had a couple of clippings from the realtor indicating the first owner so I started with that name and found some information online.

Yesterday I stopped by our main library and looked through some city directories to see if I could find more.  The house was built in 1900, according to information the realtor gave us, but the 1900 directory did not list the owner as I expected.   OK, perhaps the house was not yet finished or occupied when the directory was printed.  The 1901 directory listed the owner with a different address but in town.  He and his wife appear in the 1902 volume.  Eureka!  I didn't check every year, but he and his wife were also listed in the 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, and 1915 editions.  However in the 1916 directory, the wife appeared under her own name and was identified as the widow of Ezekiel.  Using other sources I found the husband had died in 1916; the wife survived till 1930.

By using United States census reports, I learned the house was rented by a different family in 1920;  perhaps the widow was living with one of her sons and wanted rental income.  Another family had moved in by 1930 (for $41.50 a month).  The 1940 census revealed the house was owned by a widow from Texas; I don't know when her family bought the house, perhaps her husband was still alive when they moved some time after April 1935 (information shown on the census).  The value of the house was shown as $3000.  The sellers provided a rough history of their family in the house, beginning in the mid-1950's; the 1950 census will be available for study in 2022.

With these clues it will be possible to learn even more about previous residents of our new home.  My next step will be to look at telephone directories at the library.  Because their pages are brittle, early phone books are kept in locked cabinets.  Our library does not have reverse directories, so I can't just look up the address, but now I have names to work with.  I will compile a list of those I want to check, then have fun!