How To Research The History Of Real Estate
Each property in the built
environment has stories to tell. This document provides a brief explanation
of the major sources you can use to discover those stories. Please be
advised that each property is different. Some of the sources listed below
are only available for city properties in the 20th century. Sometimes you
will not be able to answer all the questions you ask. But remember that the
fundamental reason for historic preservation is to preserve historic
structures, sites and areas. Therefore, it is important that you learn at
least the rudiments of historical research.
Step No. 1
Trace the deeds. Go to the Tax Office in the Mecklenburg County Office
Building on East Fourth Street or
click here and acquire the eight digit tax parcel number for the
property you are researching. Tax parcel numbers are also available on the
tax maps. Enter the tax parcel number into the computer in the Tax Office or
use your online source and you will obtain the current deed book reference
to the property. Do not pay a great deal of attention to the "year built"
information on the computer screen. That information is not meant to be
historically accurate.
Go to the Register of Deeds Office in the Mecklenburg County Office
Building or use your online site. Look up the current deed to the property,
using the information you acquired in the Tax Office. You need to know two
terms. Grantor is the seller of property. Grantee is the buyer of property.
Hence, the current owner of the property will be listed as the Grantee. The
seller will be the Grantor. You need to know when the current Grantor was a
Grantee. Usually, the previous deed will be mentioned in the present deed.
If not, you will have to look up the present Grantor in the Grantee Indexes.
Using this method, trace the deeds back to the period in which the structure
on the property was erected. Write down the name of all Grantors and
Grantees and the dates of the transfer of property. You might encounter
instances when one of your parties is a Grantor in a Deed of Trust. That is
simply a means by which a buyer puts up his property as collateral for a
loan. There will typically be a reference as to when the Deed of Trust was
satisfied.
Step No. 2
Check Last Wills and Testaments. Go to the Estate Records Office in the
Mecklenburg County Courthouse on East Fourth Street. Again, you will need to
know two terms. Devisor is a party who grants property by bequest or
will. Devisee is a party who receives property by bequest or will.
Last Wills and Testaments are matters of public record. You are not
snooping. Take your list of Grantors and Grantees and look to see if any of
the names appear in the Devisor or Devisee Indexes. If so, copy down the
reference number and ask the person at the desk to bring you the appropriate
Last Will and Testament to review. Remember, you have a right to look at
these documents. Make note of all pertinent information, including the date
when the Will was probated. This will give you an approximate date of death
for the Devisor. Sometimes people die Intestate, which means that they had
no Will.
Step No. 3
Check Court Records. Go to the Clerk of Court's Office in the Mecklenburg
County Courthouse on East Fourth Street. There are two additional terms you
need to know. A Plaintiff is a party who initiates an action in court. A
Defendant is a party who refutes an action brought against him, her, it or
them in court. Here again, this information is a matter of public record.
You are not snooping. Check to see if any of the individuals on your list of
Grantors and Grantees is listed in the Plaintiff Indexes or the Defendant
Indexes. If so, copy down the reference number and ask the person at the
desk to bring you the appropriate court records.
Step No. 4
Check Vital Statistics. Mecklenburg County is obligated by law to
maintain vital statistics on human beings. Some are available online.
Click
here. These records exist from the
early 20th century in most instances. They include Birth Certificates,
issued at the birth of every human being who is born in Mecklenburg County;
Death Certificates, issued at the death of every human being who dies in
Mecklenburg County; and Marriage Licenses, issued for every couple who
wishes to become legally married in Mecklenburg County. Obviously, these
documents can reveal much about the lives of the individuals on your lists
of Grantors and Grantees. You can learn when people were born, when they
died, the cause of their death, whom they married, the names of their
parents, etc. Record all of this data so you can use it later in your
research. Remember that these documents exist only if the event involved
occurred in Mecklenburg County. Marriage licenses are located in an office
adjacent to the Register of Deeds Office. The location of Birth Certificates
and Death Certificates depends upon when they were recorded. For those
dating from 1947 and before, they are located in the an office adjacent to
the Register of Deeds Office. For those dating since 1947, they are located
in the Vital Statistics Office at the Health Department on Billingsley Road.
Step No. 5
Check Cemetery Records. The City of Charlotte retains burial records for
all municipal cemeteries. Private cemeteries are also required to retain
burial records. You can telephone the City Cemetery Office. The number is
336-2123. Private cemeteries can also be contacted by telephone. Churches
generally retain records of burials in their cemeteries. Find out which
individuals on your list of Grantors and Grantees are buried in Mecklenburg
County and where. Go view the gravestone. This will give you the birth date
and the death date. Take special note of the graves in the immediate area.
In our culture we generally bury people by family unit.
Step No. 6
Read Obituary Articles. The great majority of people have the most
written about them in the newspaper articles that comment upon their lives
after they die. Unfortunately, the Charlotte newspapers are not indexed. The
best way to find the obituary article of an individual is to look in the
newspaper for the first few days following the individual's death. You
should have obtained that date already in your research. The Charlotte
newspapers are on microfilm and are located in the Spangler-Robinson Room of
the main branch of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Library on North Tryon
Street. Charlotte newspapers exist from the 1830's.
Step No. 7
Check the Vertical Files in the Spangler-Robinson Room. Vertical Files
simply denote records that have been placed in folders and put in filing
cabinets. They mostly consist of newspaper articles that have been clipped
and saved. Check to see if any of the individuals on your list of Grantors
and Grantees is listed in the Vertical Files indexes. This will probably not
be the case in most instances, but you might be lucky.
Step No. 8
Check the Sanborn Insurance Maps.
You can obtain them online. During the
late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Sanborn Maps were
periodically drawn for cities and towns throughout the United States. The
maps for Charlotte and Davidson are located in the Spangler-Robinson Room.
The maps, which were drawn for fire insurance adjusters, depict the layout
of the town and show where every building was located. Look up your property
on the various Sanborn Maps and notice the overall neighborhood, street
layouts, etc. Pay particular attention to the outline of the house and the
location of outbuildings, such as garages, sheds, etc. A particularly
important bit of information is the house number at the time the map was
drawn. You will find it at the front edge of the lot. This is an important
number for you to retain, because street numbers, even street names, change
over the years.
Step No. 9
Check Building Permits. Since the early 1900's, cities and towns have
been required to issue permits before a building can be constructed or
materially altered. The oldest building permits are on microfilm in the
Spangler-Robinson Room. Unfortunately, they are not indexed. You will have
to search for the address of the building when it was first built. Remember
that you can get that information from the Sanborn Insurance Maps. More
recent building permits are at the Building Standards Department at 700
North Tryon St. They are filed by current address.
Step No. 10
Check Water Tap Records. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities Department
(C-MUD) has records which show when the water tap was turned on at a
building. Again, the earliest records will be for the address of the
building when it was built. The Utilities Department can give you this
information over the telephone. It is one of the best ways to determine when
a building was constructed. The telephone number for C-MUD is 399-2221.
Step No. 11
Check City Directories. City Directories exist for Charlotte beginning in
the 1880's. They are located in the Spangler-Robinson Room. City Directories
are compiled by private companies, not municipalities, and they tell who
actually lived in each building. Occupants are arranged both by street and
alphabetically. Again, you need to make sure that you use the different
street addresses that have been assigned to the property over the years.
City Directories also give information about the occupations of occupants.
Step No. 12
Conduct Personal Interviews. If you are lucky, you will learn the names
of living relatives of previous owners. You should interview as many of
these people as possible. It is particularly valuable if you can obtain
photographs. Certainly, you can obtain interviews with the current owners
and occupants.
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