Who Lived Here in 1900?
The photo's handwritten caption reads: "The sweet house in Narberth, Pa. where Alex learned to walk. — and where his Father died the 20th of Sept. 1900"
We were stumped. "My grandfather Alexander McLean Blair lived in Narberth as a child. I am trying to locate the address of the house…where my grandfather's father died in Sept. 1900."
There are no house numbers recorded in the 1900 census, only streets. Early directories from 1901 and 1903 have no numbers, either; instead they use descriptions like "Iona, near Windsor". So it's clear that Narberth houses were not numbered before 1904. That's why it's been such a long process to map Narberth's households of 1900. Five years after starting, almost a third have still not been located, 55 families without a home!
Street Numbering, from The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia
Follow the Census Taker
The order in which the census was written follows the enumerator door to door. Knowing a few addresses from later sources enables us to find the neighborhood, but not individual houses. So we need exta clues, like this photo. Luckily, this house is still standing, not on Haverford, as the census recorded, but just off it on Hampden. And because another photo on the album page identified a next-door neighbor, we scored a twofer, whittling down the list of 1900's unlocated by two houses and nine people.
Here's the current list. Recognize anybody?
Updated September 3, 2024.
Montgomery County Property Record