Previously I wrote about learning the ownership of a house through reading an abstract, but how do you find out who actually lived in the house?
The primary source for discovering residents of a house in Indianapolis prior to 1989 is through the pages of R. L. Polk & Co. Indianapolis City Directories. While various publishers issued city directories for Indianapolis since 1855, the Polk Company of Detroit, Michigan began compiling directories in the 1870s for various cities in 29 states and issued its first Indianapolis directory in 1878. A city directory lists the name and occupation of a resident. Beginning in 1929, the directory also gave the name of a spouse. One impediment to looking for residents is that the early Indianapolis directories only listed the names of individuals. It was not until 1914 that the directory contained a section listing the primary resident by street and address. Most of the Indianapolis city directories have been digitized by IUPUI, and a researcher may find them on the Internet either by googling “IUPUI Indianapolis City Directory Collection” or going to www2.ulib.iupui.edu/digitalscholarship/collection.
But what about trying to find the more recent residents of a house? The Haines Indianapolis City & Suburban Directory is organized by street and address with names listed and little more information. Unfortunately, these directories are not on-line, but may be found at the Indiana State Library and the Indianapolis-Marion County Central Library.
So, once the name of a resident is known, what else can be learned about that person? Was a previous resident an “average Joe or Jane” or a person of note? One very good source to answer this question is an obituary; but how to find a death date? Ancestry.com has a number of resources to answer this question. The primary one is the U. S. Social Security Death Index. Ancestry.com is a subscription web site, but a researcher can log on to the site at most libraries. Another source is findagrave.com which is free and can be accessed directly on line. With a date of death, and if the death occurred in Indianapolis, an obituary may be found on the microfilm rolls of Indianapolis newspapers at the Indianapolis-Marion County Central Library or at the Indiana State Library. The state library also has microfilm of newspapers from cities throughout Indiana.
If a person was living in a house at the time the United States Federal Census was taken, a rich record not only of that resident, but of all of the individuals residing in the house at that particular time — 1880; 1900; 1910; 1920; 1930; 1940 — may be learned. The census record will give ages, places of birth, occupations, and other interesting information about the adults and children living in the house. The census is on microfilm rolls at the Indiana State Library or may be accessed through Ancestry.com.
For those living in Irvington and the greater Irvington area who are interested in knowing more about who resided in their house, please begin your search at the Bona Thompson Memorial Center, 5350 E. University Ave. The Irvington Historical Society has information on most of the houses in the area bounded by Linwood Ave., 10th St., Elizabeth St., and Brookville Rd.-English Ave. The Bona’s hours are Wednesdays, 1-3 p.m.; Saturdays/Sundays, 1-4 p.m.