Could someone tell me if there is a Portland City Directory covering the years from about 1904-1915? If so, could you give me the name of the repository? Is it possible to request copies? I am particularly interested in the years closest to 1909 in the Sellwood area. The family I am researching lived at 621 (SE) Tenino Street. I understand that presently there is no house with that number but there is a house numbered 623 on that block. Could the houses have been renumbered? Has house 621 been torn down? Perhaps the city directories could shed some light on this. The family that I am looking for may have used a variety of surnames here in the USA. In Sweden the head of the family was known as Frans August Petterson/Engström or maybe Gustafson. In this country we know that Frans went by Frank but we do not know which surname he used. The city directories could really be a big help in providing this information. Any suggestions will be appreciated, Susanne Brown

There are several city directories available for this time period. The Multnomah County Library, the Oregon History Society and the Genealogical Forum of Oregon (GFO) all have extensive city directory holdings. For $10, GFO volunteers will spend up to an hour searching the various city directories and other indices which the Forum holds. (See http://www.gfo.org/respol.htm) One thing to watch out for--prior to 1933 street addresses in Portland were "20" to a block. In 1933, they were changed to "100" per block. I don't know about Sellwood in particular, though. Sellwood was incorporated into Portland in 1893, and whether it used the same scheme as the rest of Portland, I couldn't tell you. Regards, dave > -----Original Message----- > From: SuzerB222@cs.com [mailto:SuzerB222@cs.com] > Sent: Thursday, August 31, 2000 2:37 PM > To: ORMULTNO-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: [ORMULTNO-L] City Directories > > > Could someone tell me if there is a Portland City Directory covering the > years from about 1904-1915? If so, could you give me the name of the > repository? Is it possible to request copies? > > I am particularly interested in the years closest to 1909 in the Sellwood > area. The family I am researching lived at 621 (SE) Tenino Street. I > understand that presently there is no house with that number but > there is a > house numbered 623 on that block. Could the houses have been > renumbered? > Has house 621 been torn down? Perhaps the city directories could > shed some > light on this. > > The family that I am looking for may have used a variety of > surnames here in > the USA. In Sweden the head of the family was known as Frans August > Petterson/Engström or maybe Gustafson. In this country we know > that Frans > went by Frank but we do not know which surname he used. The city > directories > could really be a big help in providing this information. > > Any suggestions will be appreciated, > Susanne Brown > >