Where can I find out who lived in my house before me?

Does anyone know where to find information that could tell me who lived in a house prior to myself?

• Planning on moving into a house in the Portland, OR area that was built in 1915 or 1918. Oddly enough it isn't on the Historical-whatever-list so I'm turning to you guys. I would LOVE to know the history of the house, who built it, the original family, etc. Maybe even find some old pictures of it! If anyone can point me in a direction of discovering that information I'd be a very happy man.

• Answer:

  Good luck with that. Many people feel there should be some website to find the entire ownership history of a house, but it would take hundreds of thousands of man hours to compile the research and that is just not going to happen. The tax assessor will have some history, perhaps contact them to see if someone in that group has more information.