City Directories: Their Genealogical Value

Margie Beldin shared with us a wealth of knowledge on the use of city directories as original genealogical sources, as well as finding aids. City Directories are a door to door yearly canvasing of the given city or region and may show residence, occupation, place of business, and other tidbits. They may include deaths and moves within the year, widows, and who is living at the same address. They give names of churches, cemeteries, societies, schools, local officials, and businesses contemporary to your ancestor. They may contain short local histories. They have typical limitations including errors, omissions, misspellings, and are typically limited to employed people. They can be used a variety of ways including to pin point your ancestor's location in the census, follow your ancestor during non-census years and find clues to marriages, divorces, deaths, and relatives.

City directories can be found in city, county, state and university libraries; historical and genealogical societies; and the Family History Library. Check these sites for more specifics:

• Old Directory Search - http://olddirectorysearch.com/
• City Directories of the United States - http://www.uscitydirectories.com/
• Google - http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&q=city+directories&btnG=Search
• Cyndislist - http://www.cyndislist.com/citydir.htm
• FHLC - http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/FHLC/frameset_fhlc.asp (search for the place then check the topics for directories)
• Rootsweb mailing list - http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jfuller/gen_mail_general.html#CITY-DIRECTORIES

When using City Directories don't forget to copy:

• Title page indicating which year and locations are covered and publishing information
• Abbreviation and use guide
• Page(s) with useful content

For more on this topic check out the Board for Certification of Genealogists Skillbuilding: Analyzing City Directories

http://www.bcgcertification.org/skillbuilders/skbld965.html

Activity to try at home:

Goto the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators http://www.unclaimed.org/ and look for property left unclaimed by your ancestors. Use City Directories and the SSDI to collect needed residence, death, and SS# information for your ancestor. Then initiate the process to claim left behind mementos, belongings, and money.

Margie's bibliography from developing this talk: citydirectoriesfortcgsfeb2006bibliography.pdf