The researcher should be advised that one must know the lot number and address in order to trace a particular building. Assessment rolls, also available at the Land Registry Office, offer the researcher information about heads of households and assigned value of real and personal properties. They also enable the researcher to trace change of ownership over time. Census data usually enable the researcher to identify the tenants of a dwelling, indicating names, sex, relationship to other occupants, and occupations, or what company occupied a building, during a specific year. Please note that early census records list only the head of household, ages of family members, outbuildings and livestock.
Researchers can also glean vital information from wills.
This source provides invaluable data for determining status and wealth and reconstructing room use and the material culture of a household. Wills sometimes include inventories listing real and personal property along with appraised values. Antigonish Town maps such as the Fire Insurance Maps for 1922 and 1934, provide the researcher with information about the placement of dwellings, street addresses, dimensions and construction materials. These will assist the researcher in pinpointing the location of a building and establishing its antiquity. The St. Francis Xavier University Archives includes among its holdings personal and business correspondence relating to such prominent Antigonish families as the Whiddens, Harts, Bernasconis and Harringtons.