Melanie Marks, CT House Histories
Fairfield Museum & History Center
“If This House Could Talk”
Researching Your House
As Jack Larkin stated in his beautifully written book, Where we Lived – Discovering The Places
We Once Called Home, he says, “Houses are familiar but also often mysterious. We know that
houses are not just wood and brick, plaster and class. From urban row houses and taverns to
barns and privies, these places – many of them grand, others crumbling into ruin – open a window
into the minds and lives of their builders. These earlier houses were places not only to live but to
be born, to fall ill and be cared for and to die. They shaped the lives of our ancestors. They
remind us that a hugely important part of our nation’s story is told in the houses that ornament
our communities and shape and shelter our daily lives. More import, they inspire us to make sure
that this heritage is kept intact and alive so that future generations can live with it, learn from it
and draw inspiration from it – just as we do.
I.
Getting Started:
Field Card:
The first thing I do when starting a house history is to pull the field card (Fig. 1)
This can be found at the town Assessor’s office at town hall. Copies are free to
homeowners. What can be found on it is the current owner, the volume and page
number for the land record, the sale date, why type of instrument it was and the sales
price. This volume and page number will be the beginning of your title search. While
there be sure to ask for any “old” field cards as they too will give you information
regarding your house’s history. (Fig. 2)
II.
Historic Resource Inventory Form (HRI)
In 1988 the town became a Certified Local Government and as part of that
designation, they were mandated to have a Historic House Survey done. Approximate
650 historic houses were identified and documented. Every 20 years the town is to
apply for a grant from the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism to
update this survey. That was done in 2009 where an additional 250 houses were
identified. These HRI’s are a good starting place to begin your research. (Fig. 3)
III.
Completing Your Title Search
Land Records (Deeds) are recorded in multiple volumes located at the Town Clerk’s
office. The earliest date back to the formation of the town in 1635 to the present. The
staff will be more than happy to point you in the right direction but they will not help
you “work” on your title search. The first thing you do is start with the volume and
page number that is recorded on your field card. That will give you your first deed
showing who purchased it (the Grantee) and who sold it (the Grantor). In the more
current land records it will usually state something like, “being the same premises
conveyed to my by… on….. and will list the volume and page number”. You will
continue to work backwards until you are no longer given these v. & p. numbers.
When that happens, you now have to go into the index books and look up the last
seller’s name from the previous deed. (Fig. 4). There are only two ways that someone
can acquire land (through the land records or through and estate – probate records
(Fig. 5) and you might have to go back and forth between the Town Clerk’s office and
the Probate office.
Terms you will need to know while working in the land records:
a. Grantee (buyer) vs Grantor (seller)
b. Warranty Deed – Warr (this is where the person is buying it outright or is getting a
mortgage)
c. Quit Claim Deed – QC ( this is where someone is giving up their right to the
property or it is being used to release a mortgage
d. Release of Mortgage – Releas of Mtg (this is usually a bank releasing a mortgage
that was taken out years earlier).
Also located in the Town Clerk’s office are an index of survey maps, contained in
two white binders; one marked “by Street Name” and the other marked “by
Name”. These are invaluable as they will tell you whether your house’s property was
every surveyed.
You will also find (you have to ask for them) are the towns vital records: birth,
marriage and death if they happened in the town of Fairfield.
IV.
Getting to know the people who once owned your house and the resources available
to develop who they were (all located at the Fairfield Museum, 259-1598):
a. Brown folders
b. Historic Resource Inventory (HRI)
c. City Directories (1895 – 1976) (Fig. 6 & 7)
d. Maps – Clark, Beers, 1912, 1931 (Fig 8 & 9)
e. Historic Books –
History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield by Donald Lines Jacobus,
(Fig. 10)
A list of Eighty-Seven Old Houses in Fairfield, Connecticut, Fairfield
Tercentenary Committee, 1935, (Fig. 11)
This is Fairfield 1639 – 1940 by Elizabeth V. H. Banks (Fig. 12)
More About the Hill by Elizabeth Banks McRury
How Old is Your House? A Guide to Research by Joan Webber
and other titles in the 728 section of the library.
f. Church Record Books
g. Cemetery Inscription Books (Hale Collection – in the 1930’s the WPA put people
to work and one of the jobs was to document every gravestone in the state of
Connecticut and make a list. His complete collection is houses at the Connecticut
State library but the FMHC has a complete copy of Fairfield’s.
h. Access to Ancestry.com where you can find census data for 1790 – 1940 (Fig. 13)
i. Access to Heritage Quest – free if you have a current library card
j. Oral Histories – some have been transcribed but be sure to ask neighbors especially
elderly ones who have lived in the neighborhood for a long time. They will have
stories of your prior owners and which you will not find in a book or other
resource material.
k. Vertical File: Fairfield-Buildings, newspaper articles and other information listed
by address
l. Photograph collection: Fairfield-Buildings, listed by address; Fairfield-Business,
listed by name of business
m. Tax Records
Internet sites:
a. Find-A-Grave (not all cemeteries have every gravestone documented but it’s a
good source
b. Google Books – my library