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Research Your House

New House in Westdale
New House in Westdale

Various sources can be used to document the history of a building. Except for well-known Hamilton-area homes, most do not have a ready-made history to consult. Therefore, the researcher must construct a history from scratch using available sources. This process can take time, and unfortunately, some properties may have very few, if any, historical records. 

Local History and Archives contains various potentially useful resources to research houses. These records include:
 
These directories show names, addresses and telephone numbers for the Hamilton-Wentworth region.
 
Researchers and genealogists use city directories to trace individuals, families and businesses. They usually include an alphabetical listing of adult residents, with their occupations and addresses.
 
Tax assessment records help accurately date a building's construction and disclose its original owner and list of occupants. 
 
These records detail the chain of ownership of a property using plan and lot number.
 
Local History and Archives has several large scale maps that show the shape, size and exact location of individual buildings. 
 
If your building was known by a name in addition to its address, you can search under that heading in our card catalogue. In the Local History and Archives reading room, check the Where-to-Look card catalogue under Hamilton – Street Address and Number or Hamilton – Name of house for a citation to the Image Collection. You can also check photographs of the street the house is located on to see if your building is shown.

There are also specialized finding aids for other collections available in Local History and Archives. 

To obtain more information about the people associated with the building, you may wish to check family papers, clipping files, census returns, genealogical indexes, funeral home indexes, cemetery indexes, promotional booklets, photographs, local publications and other sources within Local History and Archives.

Check in the Where-to-Look under the surname or ask for assistance at the Local History and Archives Information Desk.

There are also invaluable records that can be requested through the City of Hamilton's Property Record Search and through the Ontario Land Registry (OnLand). 

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