EXPERT GENEALOGY Editor: Jeannette Holland Austin Series: Odd Sources Subject: City Directories Date: December 2, 1998 So here we go. We run the gammat: 1. Census records for time-period/place in which our ancestor lived. 2. Search all the county records where our ancestor lived, as well as adjoining counties. 3. Military records, such as pensions, muster rolls. 4. Cemeteries, bibles, genealogies, everything we can find at libraries and archives. And so on. What we are trying to do is establish our ancestors movements throughout his lifespan, learning more about him....thus being a good detective. An example of how one learns additional details which help to assemble a "person" profile is the cemetery. A visit there might locate a number of burials of small children during the same months and years. This means the area suffered some kind of epidemic. This might help explain some pre-mature deaths in your own family. There is another place to search to help establish the time-line, and that is the City Directories. These are not always easy to find, but most regional libraries have some old City Directories of varying dates. There is a good reason for the gaps in dates, as well as missing City Directories . Most genealogical departments inside libraries depend upon contributions. A number of these books are contributed by local genealogical and historical societies. If it weren't for such societies, we simply would not have the source material which exists today. Not only do they publish genealogical magazine and county histories, but also campaign for bible and cemetery records. If you haven't visited a historical society, it is an excellent source of some unexpected materials. For example, the Richmond (Virginia) Historical Society has a marvelous collection of civil war weapons, swords, clothing, wall murals, as well as an excellent card file system of their genealogical holdings, which are quite different from the Virginia State Archives. Also, State Archives collect City Directories. The purpose of City Directories is to list head of household, name of wife, address, where they worked, and yellow pages similar to our phone books. It's really fun to see where your father worked during different time periods. You might not recall your own address during your childhood - there is where to look. Then, go take a peek at that house. It helps shore up your childhood memories. How about seeing your grandparents house? The address will assist you in quickly locating the family in latter-day census records. This is especially useful for large cities. By cross-checking from one year to the next, you might even figure out an approximate date of death, as well as when the family moved to and from an area. It is a good idea to check for surnames of others living at the same address. This helps locate other children who since become an adult. The commercial section can be used to learn information on churches, cemeteries, funeral homes, schools, etc. It is helpful to search Funeral Homes records, as well as local cemeteries and church graveyards. Be sure and obtain a copy of the county map from tax assessor's office (at courthouse) before you go out into the field. This will be extremely helpful in locating churches, cemeteries, etc. Carol Pridgen Martoccia 903 East Fifth St. Greenville, NC 27858 PRIDGEN Homepage : http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Meadows/6297 PRIDGEN Archives: http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl List manager for the Pridgen Family and for Wilson County, NC (NCWilson)