Researching an Oregon Parsonage

Many of the scenes in my current work-in-progress take place in a Methodist parsonage in Albany, Oregon. The minister, his wife, and their young daughter live there in 1867. Albany in 1867 was a small town, though it was the county seat of Linn County, Oregon.

I envisioned a small parsonage—a few rooms on the main floor, with two bedrooms upstairs under eaves. It’s the Victorian era, so some trim on the outside of the house, but nothing fancy. After all, the congregation built this house from their donated time, talent, and treasure, so they wouldn’t want to pay for unnecessary fripperies.

Now that I am doing the last substantive edit on my novel, I decided to research parsonages in Oregon in the mid-19th century to see whether my imagination was close. (My research continues until I hit “publish” on Amazon, and sometimes even after.) I couldn’t find a picture of a real parsonage in Albany from the era, but I did find one in Salem, Oregon, built in 1841.

The Salem parsonage was larger and plainer than my image. But then, it was built twenty years earlier than my imaginary parsonage in Albany. Moreover, my research indicated that two families lived in the Salem parsonage, and a number of visiting circuit preachers passed through Salem.

So perhaps my image of a somewhat smaller building with a little more Victorian trim could be possible.

The minister in my story goes on preaching circuits through towns in Oregon, but he and his family do not have any reciprocal circuit preachers staying with them. I suppose I could have written such characters into my novel, but then I’d have to build a bigger parsonage.

Albany, Oregon, has many historical buildings, some of which were similar to my imagined parsonage. For example, there is the George Earle Chamberlain house, pictured here. (For more information on Albany’s historic districts, click here or here.) This historic home is larger than the parsonage I envision, in that my imagined house is only two stories with an unfinished attic and no bay windows.

I haven’t found the perfect model for my parsonage. But I won’t let that stop me. Not everything in historical fiction has to be exactly like history. That’s why it’s called fiction. Writers still get to make up stuff, even if their stories are based on history.

Such is the work of a writer. Back and forth between the plot and the setting. If the plot requires a setting, the writer creates it. If a real setting could not support the plot, then perhaps the plot should change.

It’s hard to say which comes first–the story or the characters or the place. Some writers will argue for one facet of the novel over another. But in the end, they must all come together.

Writers, how do you research your settings?