A Beginning Guide - How to Research Your Home’s History
(and the stories of those who lived there!)
It is good to undertake the task with the awareness that house research is an exploration. Some facts will be revealed in surprising finds! (Image from Charm in Architecture, the work of Robert R. Royce, circa 1930s.)
This presentation was created on special request from a group of neighbors interested in exploring their homes’ histories, now available for self-guided learning.
This region of Central Ohio was home to several tribes of Native Americans. By 1800, the land that is today’s Upper Arlington was given to three men for their service in the Revolutionary War. Elijah Backus was given the land south of today’s Fishinger Road. Jonathan Dayton received the land north of Fishinger Road. Andrew Marker received the land along the Scioto River where it bends slightly west.
Here is some history for the region of Upper Arlington that was the original community. In 1818, John McCoy bought 1157 acres in the southernmost portion of Elijah Backus' original tract. Some of that acreage was sold to Benjamin Smith in 1856 and then to Dr. Henry Miller in 1859. The farm passed to son James T. Miller when he married Esther Everitt in 1869. 840 acres were sold to King and Ben Thompson to establish the original Upper Arlington in 1913.
For Upper Arlington residents who live beyond the boundaries of the original community, Perry Township materials will be helpful resources for you. Perry Township was composed of many farms and early maps will allow you to determine who farmed the land where you live. Check out the maps available at the Upper Arlington Public Library.
There were at least five schools serving the Perry Township community. Stony Point school stood where McDonald’s now stands at the corner of Fishinger Rd. and Riverside Dr. Fairview School was at the intersection of Tremont Rd. and Lane Ave. Swamp College stood on land where Greensview Dr. runs into McCoy at the OSU Golf Course. Woody Bower School was on Henderson Road. At least one early map suggests a school for African American students stood near present day Tremont Elementary School.
A good guideline for researching the history of your home is available from the Columbus Metropolitan Library: https://www.columbuslibrary.org/researching-house-history
Unfortunately, the first suggested resource is the Franklin County Auditor’s website and that is not reliable for pre-1920. For these earlier years, you will find the City Directories useful. The Columbus City Directories include the current "suburbs" and include information on the owner and residents of the house. Directories were published annually and are in the Columbus Metropolitan Library.
The Franklin County Recorder's office has deeds that are useful for older properties. The Sanborn Fire Insurance maps are old insurance company maps that can reveal the original shape of the house and original building materials. Sanborn maps might allow you to track some of the additions to the house over time. While they are accessible online, a trip to the Columbus Metropolitan Library to see the maps in color is worthwhile.
For gathering information on the residents of the home, you might want to use the Upper Arlington Public Library’s Ancestry.com. Their library version is a rich resource though you have to use it in-house. It cannot be accessed online from your home.
The Upper Arlington Public Library Archives includes old copies of the Norwester Magazine. This community magazine was published from November 1917 – March 1922 and includes lots of stories of early residents and photos of them and their homes. Even the ads are entertaining. The magazines are easily accessed online. www.uaarchives.org
Don’t neglect looking at the UA News, which is accessed, online. The Columbus Dispatch Electronic Editions (including a photo archive) are also available through the Columbus Metropolitan Library.
Happy Exploring!
A Sept 2023 Washington Post article about researching your home’s history.