A Day for the Record Books

Well, that's not as exciting as it sounds. I went to the county courthouse yesterday afternoon and spent some time looking through the old land record books to research the previous owners of our house. Not an easy task, it turns out. I may have to go back when I have more time, but here's a brief rundown of what I dug up...

Dec 21, 1927
Sold by Brumback Realty to B. Francis Saul

May 10, 1932
Sold by Lyon & Fitch, Inc. (our neighborhood is called 'Lyon Village') to Maria M. Clark

Dec 29, 1939
Sold by Maria M. Clark to Frank & Grace Clark

Sept 3, 1941
Sold by Frank & Grace Clark to John & Gladys Taylor
(coincidentally, my grandmother's maiden name was Gladys Kaylor)

July 27, 1945
Sold by Felix C. Rozier to John & Glen Poe, who were getting a divorce
(not sure why they bought the house together...)

April, 1960
Sold by John & Patricia Poe to Rudolph & Barbara Forster

Jan 29, 1963
Sold by Rudolph & Barbara Forster to Henry & Evelyn Borden
The Bordens lived in the house until they died. Evelyn passed away in 1993, and her daughter sold the house in 1994. There were two other owners before we bought it in 2003.

There are still a few holes to be filled in, but it seems like the Poe family was responsible for the items that were found walled up inside the closet. One of the pairs of aviator glasses was in a case with John Poe's name and Andrews Air Force Base written inside, so he must have been in the Air Force, which would explain why my neighbor said the father wasn't living in the house. But if he had a trouble-making son, he would have to have been a product of the first marriage, since any children he had with his second wife would have been less than 5 years old in 1950 -- way too young to be hiding cigarettes and checking out library books on military aviation. I'll have to chat some more with Francine now that I have some names. That may jog her memory.

I stopped by the house on the way home and snapped a quick photo of the progress.