Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I ask this because I'm feeling like a bit of a stalker weirdo right now!
The house DH & I just purchased was a Deceased Estate and had been a 1 owner property. The owners had left a lot of little clues around in addition to their personal touches and naturally I got curious as to who they were before they passed away.
I did a bit of searching and was able to uncover some undoubtedly murky family history. However, from the addresses on the Census until 1940, it appears that both the husband and wife were raised in lower class sections of St. Louis City in late Victorian tenements.
I think this fact though has given me further appreciation for the house we bought.
I can only imagine how thrilled the couple must have been when they first bought the home in 1959 when it was brand spanking new, out in the 'new' post war suburbia and far away from the grit and pollution of the city. The house must have seemed like a dream come true! They certainly took amazing care of it from an aesthetic standpoint.
So, have you ever searched a person in the Census / other records that wasn't related to you? Is doing this unethical?
Either way- I think I have even more of an appreciation for the couple that owned, and loved my house. It seems they achieved their American Dream!
Help from people outside the family is a huge part genealogy.
I was looking for a relative of my parent's in Florida. I posted a wanted ad on a non City Data board and a nice lady did some research for me. She found my parent's cousin's widow and her new address. We made contact and my parent was able to get a photo of his relative who had died in 1971.
So, in that particular case, I was not looking for someone else's ancestors, but rather, someone many states from me, did take their time to look for someone that was not their family. It was my family.
Genealogy, and other searches, would be very difficult without the help of others, who may have access to records, etc. that you may never find yourself.
Or ideas and suggestions that might be out of the box, so to speak.
And don't let anyone tell you it takes some professional. On a genealogy question, I had the chance to communicate with, and help a young lady, locate some of her ancestors. She was out west, in Wyoming I think it was. I'm on the east coast. Her ancestors were mainly in areas around N.Y. and Pa.
By making some simple phone calls and a few e-mails, a regular person (me ) with nothing but the desire to help someone and maybe find something that was hard to find, came up with the obituary columns for over 12 of her relatives. Her parent then had the names, etc. to partially complete their family tree.
No travel needed from the west coast to N.Y. Just someone helping someone else, as best they could.
Many examples of success and real people who greatly appreciate your, or my, or anyone's help.
I even got a thank you card in the mail on that particular journey. The harder it got to find something, the more determined I was, to not give up. I could have just said forget it, after a little searching with no results, but I did not. The effort yielded those 12+ names from the late 1800's early 1900's.
It's great to remember these people that lived in your house. I think it honors their memory.
My cousin and I have researched a lady that lived in her house in the mid to latter 1800's. We even have letters she wrote describing life in NYC during the Civil War.
I've done lots. For many and various reasons. I've researched the first landowners in my county. I've never researched a property owner, but know lots who have. I've researched friends, and people who marry into my family.
What I don't do, and maybe would find creepy, is go looking for living people. I don't help others do that either. To me, that crosses the line.
You certainly weren't trying to get information to use for illegal or fraudulent purposes, just to gain more information about the people who lived in your house before you did. That is certainly not unethical. I'm sure it was very interesting. I am in agreemant with daliowa, it honors their memory.
I looked up the property deeds of to see the names and dates of all previous property owners of the house I grew up in. I was just curious to see who lived there before us. So no, I do not think it is creepy, you were just curious about your home's history, that's all. No biggie.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
) with nothing but the desire to help someone and maybe find something that was hard to find, came up with the obituary columns for over 12 of her relatives. Her parent then had the names, etc. to partially complete their family tree. 
