Hello my genealogical friends, I hope you are enjoying the slightly more detailed blogs about specific record types you may have run across or will soon in your research journey. Today’s record type (city directories) will entail a more detailed account of what the record type will look like as at first it may appear overwhelming with of course a short-detailed description of what the record type is for those of you who may be less familiar. If you are currently shorting through or working with city directories this blog post might be especially helpful in helping you extract useful information.
Let’s begin with a quick explanation to what a city directory is. If you have never seen one before it is similar to a telephone book in the sense that it features in part an alphabetical listing of names. Of course, this is where you hope to find the ancestor’s name you are looking for. Besides this portion it may also contain business, government, town officers, schools, societies, and matters of local interest. When you open a directory pay special attention to the page that lists the abbreviations and meanings that will be used throughout it. You will have to reference this page to understand some of the record.
Once you have opened the city directory you will be immediately hit with a wave of information. To begin with you will have a title page, note that this page will help you craft a good citation. Then you may find other aspects such as the list of abbreviations, talked about above that will help you navigate the record. Other topics you might find include schools (teachers and addresses), churches, secret societies, clubs/societies, cemeteries, street directory/maps, directory of households, and a list that may detail alterations to the record or additions that didn’t make the initial cut-off to be included neatly in the rest of the lists. Each of these aspects can help you flush out a fuller picture of an ancestor’s life. As an example, if you know the religious affiliation of your ancestors you could start searching for which churches in town they might have attended and from there go to find more evidence of this portion of their life/lives. Take each aspect one at a time using previous information you have gathered to put aspects of your ancestor’s life into context or going out to find evidence that might support their involvement in certain aspects given the area in context.
As you continue to work with city directories extracting information will become easier, the biggest tip I can offer is to pay attention to the abbreviation section to limit confusion. As always, my webinars and contact information are available under their respective tab/corner on this same website. Please reach out if you have any further questions on this topic, others, or your own personal research and I will do my best to help you! I hope that you have come away with a little more confidence and familiarity with city directories and I wish you happy researching as you continue to expand your family trees!
Winona I Laird ” The Genealogy Granny”
