Talk:United States Directories

Why Use Directories?


 * Learn the exact years your ancestor inhabited a place.
 * Locate ancestor in a census that hasn’t been indexed (esp. state census).
 * Estimate year of immigration.
 * Learn occupation and employer as identifiers
 * Find other family members.

Potential Content


 * An alphabetical listing (arranged by name, address, and occupation).
 * A street address listing (arranged by address, name, and occupation).
 * Widows, working women, and adult children at home.
 * Ward maps.
 * Street locator, including cross streets.
 * Street name changes.
 * Removals (sometimes destinations!).
 * Businesses (and index to advertisers).
 * Churches, schools, funeral homes, cemeteries, post offices, courts, hospitals, benevolent associations, newspapers.
 * Many early directories listed only businesspeople.
 * Some directories list wife in parenthesis.
 * Whether a woman is a widow (including name of husband).
 * List of marriages and deaths of previous year.
 * Death date.

Finding Directories


 * Place Search -- Family History Library Catalog
 * Search city and county.
 * Predecessor record: minutes of town meetings incl. lists of inhabitants.
 * Finding aids:
 * City Directories of the United States. New Haven: Research Publications, Inc. 1971-
 * City Directories of the United States, 1860-1901: Guide to the Microfilm Collection. Woodbridge, CT: Research Publications, 1983
 * Spear, Dorothea N. Bibliography of American Directories Through 1860. Worcester, Mass.: American Antiquarian Society, 1961.
 * Websites
 * UScityDirectories.com: Identifies directories by place and gives repository and call number (incl. FHL film numbers).
 * DistantCousin.com/directories
 * Transcriptions of city directories from 18 states.

Search Steps


 * Check the beginning of the directory for cutoff dates, geographical coverage, and the meaning of abbreviations.
 * Check alphabetical listing or residents to find known ancestors.
 * After finding a known ancestor’s address in the alphabetical listings, check the street address listing to find unknown ancestors at the same address.

Tips


 * Directories list occupants (not necessarily owners).
 * Major cities: Check town or county histories for outlying towns later absorbed by a city.
 * Minorities were often listed separately.
 * Others at your ancestor’s address may be boarders.
 * Pay attention to occupations
 * Occupations can give you an extra “handle” by which you can identify your ancestor in another record.
 * If an alphabetical listing says your ancestor is “Asst. to John Doe,” see what John Doe does for a living.
 * Streets were renumbered. If your ancestor’s address changes, see if his neighbors’ addresses change correspondingly.
 * Second marriages: If a widow is listed at an address, then replaced by a man the next year at that address, check marriage records!
 * Find ancestor in all available directories:
 * More name handles.
 * More relatives at same address.
 * More occupations.
 * For blank forms you can use to extract information from a directory, see www.tpl.toronto.on.ca/localhistory/directories4.html

What to Do Next

Directories serve as springboards to other records:

Church records


 * To narrow down the church records to search for an ancestor, use directories to find addresses of churches near your ancestor’s residence.
 * If you have a marriage certificate naming the minister who performed the marriage ceremony, find his listing in directories to learn the name of his church.

Land records


 * Directory listings often mention whether the resident is an owner, renter, or boarder. If owner, see land records!

= Works Referenced =

Egan-Baker, Maryan. "U.S. Census &amp; City Directories: The Dynamic Duo." Utah Genealogical Association Conference. Salt Lake City, Utah, 13 April. 2000.

Gormley, Myra Vanderpool, C.G. City Directories: Windows on the Past. . 19 March 1998 (Accessed 27 August 2002).

Hinckley, Kathleen W., C.G.R.S. Skillbuilding: Analyzing City Directories. . May 1996 (Accessed 27 August 2002).

Morgan, George. City Directories. . 6 March 1998 (Accessed 27 August 2002).

Primary Sources -- Directories. . 27 January 2000 (Accessed 27 August 2002).

Remington, Gordon, F.U.G.A. "Needle in a Smokestack: Urban Research." Utah Genealogical Association Conference. Salt Lake City, Utah, 13 April, 2000.