Rooted at 449 Alphonse Street

This is what 449 Alphonse St looks like today - modernized, but still holding generations of family memories beneath the surface.

Sometimes, it's not just the names or the dates that bring our ancestors to life; it’s the homes. In an email from my cousin Don, I uncovered the rich, multi-generational story of a house that quietly held layers of my family’s history: 449 Alphonse Street in Rochester, New York.

According to local records, the home was built in the 1930s and is listed as having 1,435 square feet of living space. But based on what I’ve found, I’m not so sure that date tells the whole story. The 1900 Federal Census shows my 3rd great-grandparents, Michael and Anna Kraus, already living at 161 Alphonse Street, a curious detail, since that earlier address may be the same property later renumbered as 449. Was it a renumbering, a rebuild, or an entirely different house? Another mystery added to my research list.

What I do know is that this home was in the Kraus family for generations. After Michael passed in 1904, their daughter Theresa, along with her husband Fred Stein and daughter Viola, moved in with Anna. Around 1920, my 2nd great-grandparents, William "Willie" and Mary (Kraus) Stinson, moved in. They lived there until 1953, when they sold the home to their nephew, my distant cousin's father.

Willie and Mary eventually relocated to an apartment at Portland and Clifford Avenue, and later moved into St. Ann’s Home, where they lived out their days.

Cousin Don painted such a vivid picture of the home for me. The kitchen had three doors - one to the cellar, one upstairs, and one leading outside. The dining room opened into a bedroom, a bathroom, and the front door. The living room featured a bedroom with the only closet in the entire house. Upstairs was an unheated, unfinished attic with a bedroom in the front, a detail that says a lot about how people lived through Rochester winters back then.

Out back, the home sat on a larger-than-average lot for the city. There was once a two-bay building for horses and wagons, and the backyard saw the planting of both a pear tree and a black cherry tree over the years.

Knowing this house still stands today, though modernized, makes this story feel even more tangible. It's amazing to think of how many footsteps from my family have echoed through those rooms. Each layer, from Michael and Anna to Theresa and Fred, to William and Mary, adds something more profound to my family story.

And like all good genealogy finds, this one doesn’t give me closure; it gives me more questions to explore. Was 161 Alphonse the same house as 449? When exactly was the home built? Is there a paper trail I’ve missed?

I’m thankful for the spark of curiosity and for family connections like Don, who help keep these memories alive.

Have you ever traced the story of a family home? Drop your story or questions in the comments, I’d love to hear about it.

Thanks for following along as I piece together the story of 449 Alphonse Street. With every detail and every memory shared, I feel a little closer to those who came before me.

Here’s to uncovering my ancestors’ stories—one piece at a time.

- The Simple Living Genealogist