Discovering the history of Salisbury’s houses

SALISBURY — Curious about your house? Want to know about its history?

Salisbury’s Kitty Kiefer gave a group an introductory lesson in researching deeds and titles at the Scoville Memorial Library Wednesday morning, Nov. 20.

Kiefer, a selectman and retired attorney, began with a universal truth about searching records:

“You never know what you’re going to find.”

“You want to nail down the title” when buying real estate to prevent unwelcome legal complications later.

“Always do a title search,” she added. Why?

“Because it’s rarely clear.”

In addition to attorneys and realtors, buyers may find themselves employing title search specialists and surveyors, depending on how muddled the land records are.

With the Salisbury town website on the big screen, Kiefer showed how a search of her last name brought up two pages worth of entries, many in the name of her late father George Kiefer.

Which would seem simple enough, except through the years, George Kiefer was entered into the records with a middle initial, or no middle initial, or in some other variation.

A buyer might need a surveyor to get firm boundaries on a piece of property, especially if the old records define the boundaries using landmarks that no longer exist.

“You’ll get ‘from the stone wall to the chestnut tree to the middle of the stream,’ said Kiefer. “Walls crumble, trees fall down, and streams change course.”

Adding to the fun, real estate records are organized by town in Connecticut.

This is also not as straightforward as it might seem.

For example, the difference between the Town of North Canaan (aka Canaan) and the Town of Canaan (aka Falls Village) can cause difficulties when researching real estate.

Researchers will likely become familiar with probate records — wills in particular.

It takes perseverance and practice to navigate between the town clerk, the assessor, the tax collector and the probate court.

“They all impact your real estate,” Kiefer said.

After a half hour overview, Kiefer took the group over to Town Hall to see how it’s done in person.