During my last trip to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, I spent several days looking through city directories on microfilm.

City directories are like telephone books but better. They list almost everyone in a city, and they include their addresses and occupations. Wives, unless they had an occupation or separate address, are not usually listed until around 1913 or thereabouts. I don't know if the women's suffrage movement had anything to do with it but there seems to be a relationship between women's right to vote and women being listed as spouses in city directories.

Two typical listings from city directories:

1893 Denver, Colorado: Tirney, James C Mgr New Home Sewing Machine Co, 1753 Lawrence, R 1223 17th

1893 Kansas City, Kansas: Tirney, Mrs. Anna, Res 413 Nebraska av,

This tells us that James C. Tirney is the manager of the New Home Sewing Machine Company, which is located at 1753 Lawrence in Denver. He rents at 1223 17th.

Mrs. Anna Tirney, his wife, is living at 413 Nebraska in Kansas City, Kansas.

Finding the occupation of an ancestor provides good biographical information.

Often, the city directory will have a map. So, you can get a visual of where they lived.

The ads in the city directories are great fun to read. Some of them even have pictures of the buildings and the equipment that they sold in the shops. There was a picture of the New Home Sewing Machine in several of the directories that I read. Yes, they were treadle machines.

If you visit any public library you will find the most recent city directory for that town.

You can request copies of city directories on microfilm at local Family History Centers.

State libraries usually have copies of city directories for their states and will make copies of pages.

The Pacific-Alaska branch of the National Archives, in Seattle, has a number of city directories on microfilm for major US cities.

© 2001-2007

Connie Lenzen, CG