Is there a record somewhere of how many people were born here?
Probably not. Amazingly, that information is not useful or meaningful to how we understand our communities, and the places in which we choose to live. It matters more what it cost, than what happened here.
What would it be like if we valued different information about the things around us? What if the most important things when we bought a house were the answers to questions like:
- Were people happy here?
- Was there a successful marriage here?
- Did people raise children here? How many?
- Did anyone die here? If they did, were they at peace?
I'm not arguing that this is how we SHOULD do things, I'm just thinking about how narrow we are when we asses our spaces, and the places where we will live our lives.
When we first moved in, there was a ghost living here. She was a lovely lady and very polite. But soon after, a couple of less polite spirits made themselves at home. With the help of my sister (see my link to her site), we ushered them all out. It was a huge step for our family in feeling ownership over this house. Quite honestly, I felt more ownership after that than I did after we signed the mortgage papers (In that case, we STILL don't own it, right? It is still the bank's).
Here are some tips about finding out more about the history of your home:
