Residential History

I went to the Georgia Room at UGA's Hargrett Special Collections Library and went through their collection of city directories looking for our house. For those who aren't familiar with city directories, they are sort of like an address/phone book. There is a list of city residents by name, but also an address index organized by street. So in each volume, I turned to the back, looked up my street, and found the resident listed at my address. I then looked that name up in the name index, and sometimes found out more information. In general, the "head of household" is listed - usually a man, if one lives at the address. Wives' names are included in parentheses; widows are listed as head of household and the deceased husband's name is listed in parentheses. Anyone over 16 is listed as an adult by name; children under 16 are numbered. Occupations are frequently listed, sometimes with an address, and phone numbers are given once those come in. In the earlier volumes, there is frequently a designation "C" for colored; in the very recent volumes an "N" designates a new neighbor. In all volumes an "H" in a circle means the occupant is the owner. So, in most cases below, the resident is listed, not the owner - as you'll see, this house has a long history of being a rental.

For our address:
1920-21 directory: no entry. Presumably the house was not yet built.
1923-24: Edward J. O'Kelley and wife May.
1926-27: Orlando C. Wages and wife Louise M., a cotton buyer at Weil Brothers Agency
1928-29: Hoyt N. Chick and wife Mozelle, an agent at Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.

1931: Edward J. O'Kelley and wife May, a grocer at 100 S. Pope Street [See 1923-24.]
1937: John W. Chappell and wife Eva. Also listed is Homer Chappell, student.
1938: Robert Z. Breeze, wife Cornelia, 4 children. Assistant chief of staff for US Agricultural Adjustment Administration.

1947: Melvin F. Lindsay, wife Alfreda S., 1 child. Salesman, Classic City Wine & Beverage Co.
1949: Melvin F. Lindsay, wife Alfreda S., 1 child. Ted's Cafe.
1952: Melvin F. Lindsay, wife Alfreda S., 1 child. Ted's Cafe. [Note this is the first evidence of stability, although Lindsay is not the homeowner.]
1956: Edward J. O'Kelley, wife Ettie M., homeowner. [Is this the same man as in 1923-24 and 1931 (presumably remarried)? Or possibly a son of the above? If so, this implies that the house was built by O'Kelley and run as a rental property for most of the first 33 years of its existence.]
1958: reported vacant, 9/16/58

1960: Mrs. Adelaide L. Plain. In the name index Lily E. Plain, widow of L.G., is listed, who may or may not be the same person. Lily is a practical nurse at St. Mary's Hospital. Also listed as resident is Veronica P. Plain, a student.
1962: Mrs. Lily E. Plain, widow of L. G., surgical technician and St. Mary's Hospital. Also resident is Priscilla V Plain, a student.
1964: Mrs. Lily E. Plain, widow of L. G., nurse's aid at St. Mary's Hospital. Also resident is Pricilla [sic] Plain, an office worker at Arrow Loan, Inc.
1966-67: Mrs. Lily E. [also listed as A.] Plain, widow of L. G., nurse at St. Mary's. Also resident is Priscilla V. Plain, an office secretary at Westinghouse Co.
[So, another period of long-term, stable rental. It's not clear whether Priscilla V. and Veronica P. are the same person or not, and ditto Adelaide L. and Lily E. Family relationships are also not clear; is Priscilla (and maybe also Veronica) a daughter of Lily? Is Adelaide Lily's mother-in-law? Or could Priscilla be a sister of the late L. G. Plain?]

1968: Fred L. Varner, wife Eller, Automotive Electronics.
1970: vacant.
1973: M. R. Sanders, a student, but as he is also listed as a resident of 892 Hill, this might be wrong.
1975: "No Return."
1977: Robert E. Claytor.
1979: Bob Benton and wife Ruth, "emp Kendall" [?], with [?] 2 children; Nancy Bishop, teller First National Bank and Trust; Frank J. Ornowski Jr., student at UGA; Dory E. Thanhauser, student at UGA. [Must have been a very full house, as the attic was not yet finished at this date and the downstairs is 5 rooms. Was it cut up into apartments at this point? There's no real evidence of that much rearrangement, but it's possible.]

1981: No information.
1982: Patrick Lee and Tim Rentz.
1984: Charles J. Odum, Jr., wife Gini, and 5 children, homeowner. Employed at UPS.
1986: Charles J. Odum Jr., wife Gini, homeowner. Employed at UPS. [We know a woman who remembers playing with friends in this house as a child, and this is probably the right family. At this date the attic was not finished, although some of the children slept up there.]

1987: Charles R. Smith, UGA student.
1988: Thomas R. English, UGA graduate student, Charles R. Smith, UGA student, and Mike Webb, salesman at Ruthless Records.
1989: Brian Kent, UGA student.
1990: Brian Kent, wife Debra L., homeowner. Debra is a teacher at Winder-Barrow High School and Brian is a landscape architect with Robinson Fisher and Associates. They have a child, Rachel, born 1987.
1994: Brian J. Kent, wife Debra L., and two children. Debra is a science researcher at UGA and Brian is a landscape architect with Robinson Fisher and Associates. [Our neighbor, who bought his house in 1992, remembers this family; he says they were concerned about the 'transitional' nature of the neighborhood and moved out to a suburban development.]
1995: Janet Hoffman.
1997: New Neighbor Ann Reynolds, from whom we bought the house in 2008.
2009: Us!