House History Books and Reports
Barbara Manning is a residential genealogist who researches the history of old Seattle homes and assembles books or reports for homeowners, brokers, and others who want to discover a home’s generational stories.
From simple histories to in-depth studies, here is what can be found:
- Builder/Architect
- The original owner: their background, who they were, what brought them to Seattle, anecdotes, hobbies, clubs, schools, and organizations they belonged to.
- Documentation: photographs, deeds, property record cards, original building permits, maps, census records, vital records, directory listings, and newspaper clippings.
- Chain of Ownership: property ownership, from the plat filer to the current owner.
Every project is unique and almost always reveals fascinating stories.
- One home in Eastlake was originally a Presbyterian Sunday School.
- A Mount Baker home was commissioned and lived in by a bootlegger and his family.
- A home in Laurelhurst was once the clubhouse of Seattle’s first premier golf course.
Finding descendants of former homeowners often provide priceless stories:
- A grandson shared that his grandpa built the home and was tough as nails: he once paid a small sum to duke it out with Jack Dempsey, who was known to make a little money on the side with small-time challenges.
- A 90+year-old woman vividly recalled an April Fool’s Day shenanigan from the 1920s.
What is your home’s story?
No project is too big or too small. So many homes’ stories have been obscured through time. But there is a story there, just waiting to be dusted off.
