I just found the research tab on their website: "California Genealogical Society offers an extended research service for $30.00 per hour for non-members, and $22.50 per hour for members, with a two-hour minimum." I'll have to think hard about plunking out $60 for a little piece of data that might not even be in the directories. Paul On Fri, Apr 27, 2012 at 11:22 AM, Paul Puente <[email protected]> wrote: > Thanks Terry. I checked their online catalog and they have 1904-1918, > 1921-24. At least they have 1917 and 1918 but unfortunately they are not > online and I am a bit too far away (Switzerland) to pop in and have a look > at them. I'll contact the society and see what their policy is on lookups. > > Paul > > > On Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 5:39 PM, Terry T <[email protected]> wrote: > >> The California Genealogical Society has a lot of the older Eastbay >> directories >> >> http://www.californiaancestors.org/ >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Paul Puente <[email protected]> >> To: norcal <[email protected]> >> Sent: Thu, Apr 26, 2012 6:43 am >> Subject: Re: [NORCAL] City Directories >> >> Sheila, fascinating story about the two brothers. I'm glad we have sources >> like censuses and directories, but since they are both self-reported >> surveys with no verification, I sometimes want to yell at the people in >> them for the errors they created, but of course they are all dead so it >> doesn't do much good to get frustrated with them. Your story has given me a >> push to go back through all of the SF city directories from 1907 to 1917 >> and make a spreadsheet of all the George Thomas listings and see if I can >> track each man and his family through the 10 year period and hopefully >> beyond. I just wish there were not so many. >> >> The Husted City directories for Alameda County are complete through 1915 onarchive.org and the Polk-Husted City directories pick up in 1921 and have a >> number of years after that. But, from 1916 - 1920 there is a gap right >> where I want to search. Does anyone have another source for Alameda County >> directories in the time period? >> >> Paul >> >> On Wed, Apr 25, 2012 at 7:20 PM, Sheila Ruiz Harrell <[email protected] >> >wrote: >> >> > I read your comment about using the city directories and I thought I'd >> > share my recent experience with city directories. >> > >> > A cousin, now deceased, did extensive work on the family and shared all >> > her papers with her daughters and various other family members. She did a >> > wonderful job, a few dates a bit off but for the most part we use her work >> > as the guide to finding supporting documents. She listed the names of her >> > uncles, her father's brothers and their birth/death dates. While using her >> > work I found that her grandfather had also listed his children when he was >> > in the Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Sawtelle, Los Angeles, CA. >> > His list of his sons was just a bit different than the list my cousin >> > prepared of her father and his brothers. >> > I started digging and was so excited to find them in the city directories! >> > I knew the first and third brothers died in 1918 so I followed two other >> > brothers in the city directories from 1920 in San Francisco all the way >> > through 1952 in San Mateo. These men were in the dry cleaning business so >> > that helped, seeing the same occupation each time I found them. >> > So far so good...two brothers, one named Vincent, or Jos.V, or JV, and his >> > wife was Dolores. The other brother was Rey/Ray and his wife was listed as >> > Laura. The two were listed in the same directories, usually one below the >> > other, both as in the cleaning business, for the same company. One listed >> > with an address with the letter "h" that I thought indicated his home, and >> > the other with the letter "r" which I thought meant renter. But ya know >> > what? There was only ONE guy...not two! >> > >> > Joseph Vincent often went by the family nickname he was given as "Rey" and >> > his wife was Maria Dolores who often used a nickname of Laura, probably >> > Lora but written as Laura. So for all the entries in the city directories >> > listing two men and two different wives' names...there was only one person. >> > The original papers I had listed this guy as John. His father listed him as >> > Benson which was what the person wrote as they heard a heavy Spanish accent >> > saying Vincent. Luckily the address for Benson matched an address for Jos.V >> > in the city directory. His WWI Draft info listed him as Joseph Vincent and >> > his wife was "Mary D". I had hoped a death record might solve the mystery >> > but he's listed as Joseph R! >> > >> > So my point here is don't give up on finding your guy in the city >> > directory...even though there are several with the same name, and the same >> > spouse's name...it could be the same person. My guess is that the info was >> > collected by several people and just added together causing the rest of us >> > to go nuts years later! >> > Good Luck, >> > Sheila ... who spent nearly a week tracking two, when there was only one! >> > >> > >> >> >> ----------------------------------------- >> NORCAL ARCHIVES: >> http://archiver.rootsweb.com/ >> Enter NORCAL. Browse by month. >> Or click the "Search all archives" link to search by keyword. >> ----------------------------------------- >> To post a message to the NORCAL mailing list, send an email to [email protected] >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] >> with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of >> the message >> >> >

Paul, I missed most of this conversation about Alameda Directories but the State Library has Alameda directories on microfilm don't they? What about SUTRO? Sorry but no way I'd be paying $60. for a City dir look up. Wish I could check for you but I just have too much on my plate right now. marilyn ________________________________ From: Paul Puente <[email protected]> To: norcal <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, April 27, 2012 5:25 PM Subject: Re: [NORCAL] City Directories I just found the research tab on their website: "California Genealogical Society offers an extended research service for $30.00 per hour for non-members, and $22.50 per hour for members, with a two-hour minimum." I'll have to think hard about plunking out $60 for a little piece of data that might not even be in the directories. Paul On Fri, Apr 27, 2012 at 11:22 AM, Paul Puente <[email protected]> wrote: > Thanks Terry. I checked their online catalog and they have 1904-1918, > 1921-24. At least they have 1917 and 1918 but unfortunately they are not > online and I am a bit too far away (Switzerland) to pop in and have a look > at them. I'll contact the society and see what their policy is on lookups. > > Paul > > > On Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 5:39 PM, Terry T <[email protected]> wrote: > >> The California Genealogical Society has a lot of the older Eastbay >> directories >> >>  http://www.californiaancestors.org/ >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Paul Puente <[email protected]> >> To: norcal <[email protected]> >> Sent: Thu, Apr 26, 2012 6:43 am >> Subject: Re: [NORCAL] City Directories >> >>  Sheila, fascinating story about the two brothers. I'm glad we have sources >> like censuses and directories, but since they are both self-reported >> surveys with no verification, I sometimes want to yell at the people in >> them for the errors they created, but of course they are all dead so it >> doesn't do much good to get frustrated with them. Your story has given me a >> push to go back through all of the SF city directories from 1907 to 1917 >> and make a spreadsheet of all the George Thomas listings and see if I can >> track each man and his family through the 10 year period and hopefully >> beyond. I just wish there were not so many. >> >> The Husted City directories for Alameda County are complete through 1915 onarchive.org and the Polk-Husted City directories pick up in 1921 and have a >> number of years after that. But, from 1916 - 1920 there is a gap right >> where I want to search. Does anyone have another source for Alameda County >> directories in the time period? >> >> Paul >> >> On Wed, Apr 25, 2012 at 7:20 PM, Sheila Ruiz Harrell <[email protected] >> >wrote: >> >> > I read your comment about using the city directories and I thought I'd >> > share my recent experience with city directories. >> > >> > A cousin, now deceased, did extensive work on the family and shared all >> > her papers with her daughters and various other family members. She did a >> > wonderful job, a few dates a bit off but for the most part we use her work >> > as the guide to finding supporting documents. She listed the names of her >> > uncles, her father's brothers and their birth/death dates. While using her >> > work I found that her grandfather had also listed his children when he was >> > in the Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Sawtelle, Los Angeles, CA. >> > His list of his sons was just a bit different than the list my cousin >> > prepared of her father and his brothers. >> > I started digging and was so excited to find them in the city directories! >> > I knew the first and third brothers died in 1918 so I followed two other >> > brothers in the city directories from 1920 in San Francisco all the way >> > through 1952 in San Mateo. These men were in the dry cleaning business so >> > that helped, seeing the same occupation each time I found them. >> > So far so good...two brothers, one named Vincent, or Jos.V, or JV, and his >> > wife was Dolores. The other brother was Rey/Ray and his wife was listed as >> > Laura. The two were listed in the same directories, usually one below the >> > other, both as in the cleaning business, for the same company. One listed >> > with an address with the letter "h" that I thought indicated his home, and >> > the other with the letter "r" which I thought meant renter. But ya know >> > what? There was only ONE guy...not two! >> > >> > Joseph Vincent often went by the family nickname he was given as "Rey" and >> > his wife was Maria Dolores who often used a nickname of Laura, probably >> > Lora but written as Laura. So for all the entries in the city directories >> > listing two men and two different wives' names...there was only one person. >> > The original papers I had listed this guy as John. His father listed him as >> > Benson which was what the person wrote as they heard a heavy Spanish accent >> > saying Vincent. Luckily the address for Benson matched an address for Jos.V >> > in the city directory. His WWI Draft info listed him as Joseph Vincent and >> > his wife was "Mary D". I had hoped a death record might solve the mystery >> > but he's listed as Joseph R! >> > >> > So my point here is don't give up on finding your guy in the city >> > directory...even though there are several with the same name, and the same >> > spouse's name...it could be the same person. My guess is that the info was >> > collected by several people and just added together causing the rest of us >> > to go nuts years later! >> > Good Luck, >> > Sheila ... who spent nearly a week tracking two, when there was only one! >> > >> > >> >> >> ----------------------------------------- >> NORCAL ARCHIVES: >> http://archiver.rootsweb.com/ >> Enter NORCAL.  Browse by month. >> Or click the "Search all archives" link to search by keyword. >> ----------------------------------------- >> To post a message to the NORCAL mailing list, send an email to [email protected] >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] >> with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of >> the message >> >> > ----------------------------------------- NORCAL ARCHIVES: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/ Enter NORCAL.  Browse by month. Or click the "Search all archives" link to search by keyword. ----------------------------------------- To post a message to the NORCAL mailing list, send an email to [email protected] ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message