this is a question i can not find the anserw to .i live in an old log home,i want to date the house and i do not know where to start. i tried the historical soc. in my state ,cant get any info. has anyone done this before ? any web sites to help? i would love to find out how old it is,who made it ,and how large the farm use to be. i have talked to some older folks around here but no one seems to know the history . any help would be great, thanks .

-- renee oneill (oneillsr@home.com), May 27, 2000

Answers

could you check in the old plat books from years ago? I know when my husband would want to know who owned some land for hunting purposes, he always checked them. They changed from year to year and I believe they're at the library. I can't remember if they have the older ones or not but it's worth a try. Good Luck!

-- Pat (pmikul@pcpros.net), May 27, 2000.

Renee, I don't know all that many absolutes for dating a log house. Try to find a local historical society, or even a local history buff. They might know what techniques were used when in your area. Also see if you can trace the ownership of your piece of land back. Mention might be made of your house. Tax records might also give you some clues. Mortgage papers can have some good clues. If you can trace ownership, you can try tracing the individuals by name and discover when they lived there.

There are a lot of genealogy sites on the internet, many of the bigger commercial sites have some good introductory information. That would give you some clues about how to trace this piece of land.

Figure out the legal description of your land, and from that the legal description of the parcel it probably was cut out of. Then you can try tracing occupancy through things like poll lists, state and national census records and such. There may also be church records on the people who once lived there. Good luck, Gerbil

-- Gerbil (ima_gerbil@hotmail.com), May 27, 2000.

Renee: I used to work for a county engineer in Spokane, Wash, and did a lot of research at the county assessor's office. There they keep old abstracts, which were books on all the county properties, for tax purposes. Many had photos, etc, as well as descriptions of the properties, from the time they were first homesteaded. You might try asking them, with the legal description which would be on the tax statement you get, if you are the owner and not renting. It will have a parcel number, or be described as the nw 1/4 of the sw 1/2 of ...blah blah blah. Take that and ask a clerk at the assessor's office if you can possibly see the book listing that property, and you should find all the info on the property from when taxes began to be collected. If you are renting and don't know the legal description, just go and ask them with your address, and they can get you the legal. Good luck, and let us know what you find out! Jan

-- Jan B (Janice12@aol.com), May 27, 2000.

I would look for clues on the foundation or for a date nail in the corner areas of the house. There are much easier ways than digging through dusty old incomplete records. My house has a "1888" chisled in a rock on the top stone in the corner of the original cellar. There are many other clues around a house---pull any nail and send it to a metelurgy class at any college for age of the metal used. I think any professer would jump at the chance to date it for free. You can get a general idea from construction technique and tools used. Last but not least--the age of the wood can be tested by the forestry service(this costs money). GL

-- Joel Rosen (Joel681@webtv.net), May 28, 2000.