scrapiron;
When looking for the privy of a home, try to imagine the entire back yard area as it was, or could have been, back in that time. The outhouse would be located in the normal downwind spaces of the house if at all possible. Also, if you can tell were the clothes lines were, will help narrow down the privy spot.......you wouldn't want to "hang" yourself on a clothes line while cruising to the "johnnie house" in the middle of the night. (not everyone had chamber pots for night use)
See if you can see a worn path from the backdoor to some area of the back yard. A very handy tool for locating outhouses is a probe. They can be made using a steel rod of about 1/2" x 6 ft. and put a "T" handle on one end for your hands. The dirt area of an old outhouse will be notably softer than the surrounding soil.
Once you find the location, be sure to wear leather gloves while digging and recovering items. They will help protect your hands from cuts from broken glass and other sharp objects. You should be finding old bottles, coins, and other items either tossed in on purpose and / or accidentally lost down the toilet. Don't worry about digging in the soil of a crapper. The human "soil" will have LONG been composted by worms, bugs, and bacteria and be nothing but rich dirt. And DEFINITELY use a sifter made with 1/4 inch hardware cloth. That should help insure nothing small would go through the screening material. Some folks like the 1/2 inch cloth, but some beads could slip through that size. Plus, I don't know if a 2 1/2 dollar gold coin could slip through a 1/2 cloth, but I'm pretty dang sure that it won't go through a 1/4 inch.
One last point. If that house stood occupied for a really long time; there may be more than one location for the outhouse. After all, sooner or later, at a really old and long lived house, there is going to be a time when a new toilet would have to be dug and built and the old site filled in. When you're probing, and get the outline of the pit defined, then check off to the sides a few feet for ANOTHER pit. After all, when digging a new pit, just toss the dug dirt directly into the old pit.......saves time and effort. But, there would be a little distance used to prevent a wall collapsing from the old, smelly pit. LOL
