In case you didn't already know... I'm a total geek. Last week I went to the title company and checked out our own Abstract of Title - just to read it.
Yes, I have plenty of books to read, but I actually wanted to read the abstract of our house.
It was quite interesting because not only was it full of deeds and mortgages, but also divorces, court cases and a bit of history from everyone who owned the land since 1917, and the house since 1950.
On December 2, 1936, the brother and sister that inherited the land had it surveyed into lots, blocks and streets. I couldn't believe my eyes when I read "No lot of lots as shown on this original plat of Buena Vista Place shall ever be conveyed, leased or given to, and no building erected thereon shall be used, owned or occupied by any person not of the Caucasian Race." Holy cow - that is inconceivable!
The land wasn't even inside the Enid City Limits until March 4, 1940. Hard to believe since we're right here on Ramona Drive, just blocks away from the main intersection of town, Van Buren and Garriott.
I really loved learning a little bit about the previous owners of the house. Luckily we are friends with the family who owned it for 13 years and have also met someone from the family who owned it for about 35 years.
In fact a grandson of a previous owner sent me a DVD of home videos from around 1957 to 1961. It is absolutely fascinating! I'll add some of it to YouTube soon, so stay tuned...
My husband was born in Enid on October 19th, 1961. As the story goes, his parents were poor and had many children, and when they found out mom was pregnant again, they decided they couldn't possible afford another mouth to feed. So my husband was put up for adoption. He was adopted by two wonderful loving parents and has had a good life. He does wonder, though, about his biological family and if the story he was told about them is true. If anyone knows of any such thing happening way back 47 years ago, we'd be thrilled to hear from them. :)
ReplyDelete