http://www.flickr.com/photos/4339106...3093/lightbox/
from Pasadena CHRID database
(My first time linking an image here; I hope it works)
This is our house, some years before we bought it 15+ years ago (it was in much worse shape by then). It's been on the CHRID database for decades longer than the date indicated. It was built in 1885. It's known as the Keil-Wilson house, after the lady who built it (Jennie Keil) and the family who lived in it from some time between 1900 and 1905 until they sold it to us over 90 years later.
We've completely restored it structurally now, and are in the (never-ending) process of restoring it cosmetically. We've been living in it for eight years now. We have received absolutely no help from any of the local Pasadena agencies and organizations except for the excellent Pasadena Heritage (who helped with professional references). No one was interested in helping us research the home's history, because to their knowledge no one they considered important was involved with the house's history. The limited resources available to us at the time did not give us any indication that they were wrong.
Then, I discovered this marvelous thread. All of you informed, committed, fantastic people taught me
how and
where to look for the kind of information I needed.
The result: I have found a historical connection for one of the home's residents that the local architectural cognoscenti will find relevant, and perhaps even important.
Put simply: the Wilson of the famous Batchelder-Wilson Company is the father of the Wilson we bought the house from. He lived here during his high school years (at least a few of them) and for several years thereafter. His mother lived here until she passed at the age of 106 in 1971. That explains why we found dozens and dozens of unglazed Batchelder tile clinkers used around the property for erosion control.
I have conclusive evidence of this, and will document it in due course, but for the time being, I just wanted to thank you all for your guidance. Without it, I likely would never have found it out.
[edit] Well, the link did not work per se, but at least you can click on it to see the picture. If one of you can smarten me up as to what I did wrong, I'd sure appreciate it.