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Using City Directories for Genealogy
Among the most overlooked genealogy resources are city directories. Well before the telephone made such directories essential, there were printed directories with names, occupations and addresses. They can be a gold mine for you.
You can use directories in local libraries, of course. Or you can find some transcribed and posted on genealogy Web pages for cities or counties. One of my favorites is the 1857-1857 Milwaukee City Directory that proved my second great-grandfather Sherman A. Bradley had arrived from Connecticut by then.
Today I learned of Die Datenbank historischer Adressbücher - a free searchable databank or database of historic address books from Germany. I was delighted to find an entry for Joseph Jean Hachez, my fifth great-grandfather, in the 1796 directory for Bremen. That was great confirmation for other sources.
The genealogy site Distant Cousins has a selection of city directories to search online free.
The examples above can all be used for free from a library or computer. A low-cost way to use city directories is to obtain them on microfilm or microfiche. Read my blog posting City Directories for example of how they can be used to solve family mysteries. Borrow the film or fiche via Interlibrary Loan at your public library or through a Family History Center near you.
Miriam Robbins Midkiff has created a site for Online City, County, and Rural Directories . The site links you to online sources for those directories, some being free and some requiring payment. Included are directories for the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Here are some other useful links to city directory information and resources:
> http://www.uscitydirectories.com/
> http://www.uscitydirectories.com/resources.html - includes how to articles
> http://www.cyndislist.com/citydir.htm
Finally, the subscription service Ancestry.com has a vary large number of city directories with both indexes and scans of the originals. Many are from the 1890s and 1940s, serving to fill in the gaps due to loss of the 1890 census and the fact the 1940 census is not yet available.
Hope these resources are helpful!
You can use directories in local libraries, of course. Or you can find some transcribed and posted on genealogy Web pages for cities or counties. One of my favorites is the 1857-1857 Milwaukee City Directory that proved my second great-grandfather Sherman A. Bradley had arrived from Connecticut by then.
Today I learned of Die Datenbank historischer Adressbücher - a free searchable databank or database of historic address books from Germany. I was delighted to find an entry for Joseph Jean Hachez, my fifth great-grandfather, in the 1796 directory for Bremen. That was great confirmation for other sources.
The genealogy site Distant Cousins has a selection of city directories to search online free.
The examples above can all be used for free from a library or computer. A low-cost way to use city directories is to obtain them on microfilm or microfiche. Read my blog posting City Directories for example of how they can be used to solve family mysteries. Borrow the film or fiche via Interlibrary Loan at your public library or through a Family History Center near you.
Miriam Robbins Midkiff has created a site for Online City, County, and Rural Directories . The site links you to online sources for those directories, some being free and some requiring payment. Included are directories for the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Here are some other useful links to city directory information and resources:
> http://www.uscitydirectories.com/
> http://www.uscitydirectories.com/resources.html - includes how to articles
> http://www.cyndislist.com/citydir.htm
Finally, the subscription service Ancestry.com has a vary large number of city directories with both indexes and scans of the originals. Many are from the 1890s and 1940s, serving to fill in the gaps due to loss of the 1890 census and the fact the 1940 census is not yet available.
Hope these resources are helpful!
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Lori Deible Chaffin on
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Here are two more sites that have city directories. They are both free sites and the one for the cinxinnati library does not need a library card.
Cincinnati City Directories
The Cincinnati Public Library has a fabulous resource called the
virtual library, where anyone can download books, music, maps, etc.
They have the images of Cincinnati city directories for most years
between 1819 and 1894 online, you can download them as a PDF file.
Here is the link to the Virtual Library page:
http://virtuallibrary.cincinnatilibrary.org/virtuallibrary/
And then there is this site, there are other states on this one!
There are a bunch of Cincinnati directories, as well as other places, up on the Directory page:
http://directory.evendon.com
You can confine your search to the Cincinnati books using the SEARCH
SELECTOR in the Left Pane. Or you can browse one book at a time by clicking
on that book's link. When it loads, you will find links to all of the pages
in the Left Pane. As you click on the link for a page, it loads in the
Center Pane. The Center Pane also includes links to step forward and
backward one page at a time.
Don't be too trusting of the search index. It's pretty good but not
perfect.
To view a list of material available click on "Browse Virtual
Library". The directories are under "Downloadable City Directories".
There are also some books of genealogical interest under "Downloadable
Old and Rare Books". They have the Cincinnati Sandborn maps for
1904-1917 online as well (under maps). -
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