City Directories in Family History Research

Using City Directories in Family History Research 

In many large American cities, many residents rented rather than owned their homes. This meant families often moved—sometimes every year. In fact, some cities observed the dreaded tradition known as “Moving Day,” (also known as “May Day”) when most leases ended on 1 May. On that day, residents searching for cheaper rents crowded city streets with carts loaded with all their earthly possessions in the hopes they would make it to their new abode with as little damage as possible.  

It's interesting to note, while many larger cities used 1 May, other cities had traditional dates that varied, particularly October. See this example, from NewspaperArchive (available via your National Genealogical Society membership) from the Macon Telegraph, 1 Oct 1898 (p. 8, col. 2). Because of this constant turnover, city directories are invaluable for tracing people year by year.  

Why City Directories Matter 

The predecessors to yesteryears’ phone books, they are much more than a list of names; they provide yearly snapshots of households, neighborhoods, and communities. Directories can help bridge gaps between census years, track migration within a city, and even reveal the organizations and institutions that shaped your ancestor’s daily life. 

City directories place your ancestors at a specific location or address and were typically published annually. In addition to that coveted address, they can reveal your ancestor’s occupation and sometimes a business association and address. 

They are also your guide to your family’s neighborhood. Houses of worship, schools, institutions, and organizations, which your ancestor may have attended. Paired with maps they can reveal their proximity to your family and possibly the location of records your ancestor left in those institutions.  

Cemeteries in the area are typically included, which may aid your search for an ancestor’s final resting place. In later years, larger cemeteries replaced smaller burial grounds and often grew on the outskirts of cities, as the dead were moved further out to create space for the living. Check for maps that may show rail lines that in the past would take the deceased in funeral cars along with mourners to cemeteries.  

Tracking Same-Named Individuals 

My obsession with city directories started as I stared down a search for three generations of James Kellys in New York City in the mid-1800s. With almost a full page of just James Kellys, I didn’t have a lot of hope at first. When I paired them with other Kellys by addresses, I was able to piece together that the family stayed living with or near each other. I also discovered that they were in the business of making artificial flowers for several decades. Once I had these threads that tied them, the family story began to take shape.  

Back in the day, my mom and I sorted entries on index cards. With the advent of technology, spreadsheets became the tool of choice, with columns by first and last name, street number, street name, year, occupation, and directory name.  

Look for identifiers like middle initials as well, to help differentiate your person from others with the same first and last name. Directories sometimes marked Black residents with symbols such as (c) or an asterisk (*). While outdated and offensive today, these notations can help you identify individuals of color in the directory. 

Tips for Using Directories 

• Read the introductory materials. The preface often includes canvassing and publication dates, which give you a better idea of exactly when your ancestor was documented there. Editorial notes can help you interpret abbreviations and symbols used in the text.  
• Look for Maps and Street Guides. Many directories included maps or street directories showing address ranges or cross streets. These resources allow you to reconstruct the layout of a neighborhood and see visually where other family members lived. They can also pinpoint the location of religious and other institutions in the neighborhood where your ancestor may have been active.  
• Reverse Directories. A directory often found within the directory is sometimes available, often at the end of the volume, where residents are listed by address. Look in these bonus sections for familiar names on your ancestor’s street and on those nearby, where you may find more family and associates. 
• Look Beyond People. Advertisements in the directory may relate to your ancestor’s business or occupation and provide color and context. And if they participated in a fraternal organization, you can find that group’s information. If your ancestor was a leader, he may be included by name.  
• Officiants in Religious Records. Officiants listed only by name on civil records can often be connected to a religious organization via city directories in congregational listings where they are named, or in residential listings if they lived at or near the house of worship to which they were affiliated. This connection can lead to other records in that religious community’s archives. 
• Check multiple publishers where available. Directories were big business by the late 1800s and early 1900s, with multiple publishers canvassing many larger cities, competing with each other for completeness and superior content. You may find an ancestor not listed in one, but in another. Even better, an ancestor could be listed in both with a more detailed occupation or a different address, signaling a move around the time of canvassing. 
• County and other directories. Even if your ancestor didn’t live in a large city, they may have been included in a local directory. Look for county directories or directories for the county seat that may have included surrounding residents. (Coverage is often listed on the title page.)  

Finding Directories 

Libraries with large genealogical collections often have runs of city directories among their historical records. The New York Public Library is a wonderful example with directories from the city dating back to the late 1700s. Check university libraries as well as private and public institutions. FamilySearch has a huge collection, as does Ancestry, although it should be noted that at Ancestry they won’t all show up together in a global search of all records.  They should be searched through the collection itself to really work using the search fields and browse functions.  

The Library of Congress, Internet Archive, HathiTrust, and Google Books are all also home to large collections of directories.  

As I reflect on the many hours I spent transcribing directories in the old days by hand, I’m feeling gleeful to have these incredible resources at my fingertips now. So the next time you’re facing an urban (or rural) problem finding someone, let your fingers do the walking—through city directories.  

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Image courtesy of the New York Public Library Digital Collections, Harper’s magazine. (New York: Harper Brothers, written on border, May 1856).