Abstract of Title...

Turns out the previous owners of our house had a copy of the Abstract of Title, which is a brief history of the titles for a piece of land. The Abstract of Title lists all of the legal actions that have been performed or used in conjunction with a piece of property. This is used to determine whether or not there is any kind of claim against a property (thank you Investopedia for that explanation).

So we now have the Abstract of Title to Lot #36 in Hills and Dales in West Lafayette, which dates back to the 1820s. There's a red arrow in the picture showing Lot #36. Apparently the first owners of the lot, John E. Kieffer and his wife Ora, bought #35 and #36 in 1939. They sold it to Ora R. Clarkson (husband) and his wife, Bertha, in 1948 (who knew Ora was such a popular unisex name back then?). Then they sold only Lot #36 (ours) to George V. Mueller and his wife, Vera, and the story goes that they actually built the house, in 1940 (although that doesn't fit in the timeline of ownership). Then in 1958, Charles M. Kirpatrick and his wife, Gail, bought the house and stayed till 1982, when Larry E. and Mary K. Crotser bought it (and wrote their names in the back patio concrete). In 1995, Gail G. Biberstine bought the house and owned it until we bought it in 2012.

Dr. Mueller was a Purdue professor, Ms. Biberstine worked in the Mechanical Engineering department/school there, and I would venture a guess that at least a few of the other families that lived here were associated with the University too, since it's right on the other side of Northwestern Ave. 

Shockingly, the Abstract mentions that at no time shall this property be lived in or owned by black people (yikes!). Good to know times have changed, at least in that sense. The neighborhood is quite diverse and we like it that way!

To all the previous owners: Thanks for taking care of the house all those years. We're so excited to live here and make it our own (and completely gut the kitchen :-) ).