Next stop: the house. The last time we were at the house was earlier this month to take measurements with Charlotte, our architect. At that time, no effort had been made to start packing. So it was no surprise to see "removal" men emptying the house today and throwing the contents haphazardly into the back of a truck that looked suspiciously like the trucks that picked up junk from our back alley on Locust Street.
The front door was wide open, so we walked in. We met the brother of the woman living in the house, asked him a few questions and then let them get on with the removal. A bit cheeky of the sellers to remove things after the sale was completed, but not a big deal to us.
It was a good thing we stopped by (and a good thing I asked if he knew anything about the previous owners) because he pulled out an old envelope stuffed with paperwork. When we got home we discovered the envelope contained the deeds and mortgage documents for all of the previous owners going back to 1875. Amazing! The first three owners were a brick merchant, a tailor and a pianoforte string maker. In 1875 the annual rent on the property was 6 pounds, 13 shillings and 4 pence for a 99 year lease. All of the older documents were written by hand on parchment paper and sealed with wax. We also learned the street was originally called Carrol Road.
Onward with the renovations!
Removal truck on right and sold sign in distance (note fridge on sidewalk)
Mortgage taken out by Henry Child in 1880
Sale between Henry Child/George Reynolds and Ewald Dettmer
A large indenture document...two pages all handwritten
