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1. Re: [VA-SOUTHSIDE-L] SMITH/JOHNSON - Brunswick, Mecklenburg Counties
3. --part1_be.1528f747.28442bf9_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In searching for 20th century records for Mecklenburg Co., you might try using the LDS online catalog to locate some films of such records. You can borrow these films (generally unless there are restrictions) through your nearby LDS center. There is a small fee. Don't borrow too many films at once, as you will not have time to read them all. URL: www.familysearch.com The link to the catalog is on the lower right. Also there is a link listing the over 3,500 family history centers around the world. Look for place and type in (lower case OK) mecklenburg and virginia (no abbrev.) I just now accessed the catalog for Mecklenburg Co. VA records. Although there seem to be no records for mid-20th century, there are for some early years--probates and marriage registers, for instance. Take a look and satisfy your curiosity. In the event there may have been some City Directories for the 20th century in the larger town(s) in Mecklenburg, you might telephone the reference librarian in the county seat (or wherever the largest town is) and ask whether there are hard-copy city directories and ask for the years you are interested in. (Also ask him/her for names of some local researchers, as you may want one of those folks to photocopy the pages you desire.) These city directories are published through the 1950s for many cities throughout the US . The publisher generally was R. L. Polk. By the way, these are NOT telephone directories. Some cities started publishing these soon after the Civil War, and for some large places, even earlier. There are some very early ones for cities in Massachusetts and many University libraries have these in their microform sections. The city directories generally listed all the employed people (and some prominent unemployed people) in town and gave the residence address. In some of the later ones, there is a reverse directory. In the back of the book, you look for the address given in the earlier part, and there you MAY find other occupants of the household/residence who were NOT listed as an employed person. (I found in the 1920s directory reverse directory a widowed mother of one employed person. He was a *usual suspect*, employed as an engineer by a railraod. But when I found the name of his widowed mother, I knew from other research who his deceased father was. He was a distant cousin of my mother.) Also, if your person's employer is listed, then you want to look up that employer also. Sometimes, there will be information about the head of that firm also. All kinds of interesting info in an old City Directory--occupations we no longer think of in our *sophisticated* times. The directories were published about every two years. They give a certain flavor to the times in which your ancestor lived. I hope you can use directories in searching for your urban (and not so urban folks) folks. You can certainly get a flavor of the times--the theaters, the businesses, the different occupations, the preponderance of certain surnames, etc. One city I search was heavily occupied by Germans--lots of flour mills, breweries, and allied occupations. By the way, if you do English research, you want to try to find directories beginning ca 1844 for the various English counties. If your people were yeomen, as mine were in general, you will at least want to read the description of the village in which they lived. Lots of these directories are/were on the open shelves at Guildhall Library in London. A good place to hide out in a rainstorm! Don't take the kids! E.W.Wallace southern California --part1_be.1528f747.28442bf9_boundary Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit <HTML>In searching for 20th century records for Mecklenburg Co., you might try using the LDS online catalog to locate some films of such records.  You can borrow these films (generally unless there are restrictions) through your nearby LDS center.  There is a small fee.  Don't borrow too many films at once, as you will not have time to read them all. URL:  www.familysearch.com     The link to the catalog is on the lower right.  Also there is a link listing the over 3,500 family history centers around the world. Look for place and type in (lower case OK) mecklenburg and virginia (no abbrev.) I just now accessed the catalog for Mecklenburg Co. VA records.  Although there seem to be no records for mid-20th century, there are for some early years--probates and marriage registers, for instance.  Take a look and satisfy your curiosity. In the event there may have been some City Directories for the 20th century in the larger town(s) in Mecklenburg, you might telephone the reference librarian in the county seat (or wherever the largest town is) and ask whether there are  hard-copy city directories and ask for the years you are interested in.  (Also ask him/her for names of some local researchers, as you may want one of those folks to photocopy the pages you desire.) These city directories are published through the 1950s for many cities throughout the US .  The publisher generally was R. L. Polk. By the way, these are NOT telephone directories.   Some cities started publishing these soon after the Civil War, and for some large places, even earlier.  There are some very early ones for cities in Massachusetts and many University libraries have these in their microform sections.  The city directories generally listed all the employed people (and some prominent unemployed people) in town and gave the residence address.  In some of the later ones, there is a reverse directory.  In the back of the book, you look for the address given in the earlier part, and there you MAY find other occupants of the household/residence who were NOT listed as an employed person.  (I found  in the 1920s directory reverse directory a widowed mother of one employed person.  He was a *usual suspect*, employed as an engineer by a railraod.  But when I found the name of his widowed mother, I knew from other research who his deceased father was.  He was a distant cousin of my mother.) Also, if your person's employer is listed, then you want to look up that employer also.  Sometimes, there will be information about the head of that firm also.  All kinds of interesting info in an old City Directory--occupations we no longer think of in our *sophisticated* times. The directories were published about every two years.  They give a certain flavor to the times in which your ancestor lived. I hope you can use directories in searching for your urban (and not so urban folks) folks.  You can certainly get a flavor of the times--the theaters, the businesses, the different occupations, the preponderance of certain surnames, etc.  One city I search was heavily occupied by Germans--lots of flour mills, breweries, and allied occupations. By the way, if you do English research, you want to try to find directories beginning ca 1844 for the various English counties.  If your people were yeomen, as mine were in general, you will at least want to read the description of the village in which they lived.  Lots of these directories are/were on the open shelves at Guildhall Library in London.  A good place to hide out in a rainstorm!  Don't take the kids! E.W.Wallace southern California </HTML> --part1_be.1528f747.28442bf9_boundary--
05/28/2001 12:32:25