Have you ever seen a City Directory? You know, a book published about your home town that includes the names and occupations of the residents, and a directory of all the businesses in town. There are some places that still publish city directories, although it's certainly not as common as it used to be.

"Along Those Lines ...", you may find some interesting genealogical information about your ancestors, and maybe some clues to help in your research. The most important use of a city directory is to place a city- or town-dwelling ancestor at a specific place at a single point in time. Census records can help you here every ten years, and some state censuses can help for that in-between period. But city directories may help you fill in the gaps. This is especially true in the critical period between 1880 and 1900 when the 1890 census was almost completely destroyed by fire.

These city directories were typically published each year. Since they were intended for use for such a short period, they were seldom printed on anything other than cheap paper. This is unfortunate because many directories have crumbled and, in many cases, no copies survive. A city or town's collection may be woefully incomplete because no one perceived the value of preservation at the time.

Early city directories included names of only the heads of household. Typically, the content of a city directory entry for an individual consisted of the name, the address, and the occupation of that individual. As the years passed, and depending on the locality, the names and occupations of other household inhabitants were included, and telephone numbers were later listed.

In many municipalities, city directories were divided into three distinct sections:
   •  Businesses
   •  Residents
   •  Colored

As in other aspects of life, listings in the city directory for "colored people" were also segregated into a separate section in the back of the book. And while that seems dreadful in some ways, it actually can be a boon to White and Black genealogists alike. This publishing segregation helps narrow the places to look in many cases.

A city directory can help you answer a variety of questions at a given point in time. Since it does tell you the name of the head of the household, you can determine the following about him or her:
   •  Who the head of the household was at a single point in time - Was it a man or a woman?
   •  Perhaps the husband has died. A change in head of household with the same name at the same address indicates that someone has moved, died, marital status has changed, or that ownership has changed.
   •  The address of the resident - This is helpful in determining enumeration district in decennial census. It is also potentially helpful in locating property and tax records in the event that the individual owned the property.

The inclusion of the occupation of an individual can help you better understand him or her better. If, for instance, an individual's profession is listed as clerk, the directory may tell you the name of the company for which he or she worked. You might then look under the business listing for details about the employer. In some directories, it was not uncommon for companies involved with public trade to place advertisements in the directories, much as they do in the telephone yellow pages today.

The absence of an occupation does not mean that the individual was indigent; it merely means that the information was unavailable. Not all directories were complete.

In one town where I was doing research, I made a beeline for the public library. If anyone had copies of city directories, they would -- or they could tell me where any copies might exist. I was seeking information about ancestors I knew had arrived in that location between 1873 and 1880. I was in luck: the library had a collection of miscellaneous directories for 1871, 1873, 1876-1886, 1889-1894, 1897-1898, and other irregular years from 1901 to 1959.

I was able to locate the male ancestor I sought in the 1876 city directory. He was listed at 817 Maple St. and his occupation was listed as "R.R. stationmaster." He was not listed in the 1873 directory, so I could still only surmise when he had arrived. However, I could narrow the dates a bit.

The appearance of his name in the city directory of 1876, and with the knowledge that I had of his affiliation with the Presbyterian church, I contacted the only Presbyterian church in the town for any record of a membership transfer. Unfortunately, the records from that era had been destroyed by fire. Dead end.

Checking subsequent directories, I found him at the same address every year until 1906 when his occupation was first listed as "Retired R.R." He remained in the directory until 1911, the year of his death. After that, his wife's name appeared as head of household with the occupation of "housekeep."

Residency at the same address did, however, lead me to census enumeration district maps, and therefore helped me more easily locate the 1880, 1900, and 1910 census records.

Because his address did not change for a number of years, I surmised that he probably owned the house. I found his name in property records and tax rolls beginning in 1876 for tax year 1875 but not for tax year 1874. That told me that he had arrived as early as 1875. If he arrived earlier than that, he would have rented.

Next, I looked for a deed for the property at 817 Maple St. I found the transaction recorded at the courthouse in August of 1875. The deed told me nothing of a previous place of residence.

While I was unable to determine precisely when my ancestor arrived, I had done my homework and narrowed the date from an eight-year period to possible 1873 to August of 1875. And the city directories helped me do this.

While city directories may no longer exist for some years and for many municipalities, you may be able to locate them at state archives. Contact the state archive to determine if they have copies of the directories you need. The Library of Congress has a sizable collection. If you can't go to perform your own research, you may be able to write and ask for a reference librarian's help in checking specific names in a given town or city. You may also choose to hire a researcher to do the research for you.

Whatever you do, don't ignore city directories. They can help you narrow the search.