WHAT TO DO? THERE'S NO 1890 CENSUS

The Riverton FamilySearch Library posted a tip of the week on City Directories on March 10. It has some great ideas on what to do between the census or in the case of 1890, in the absence of a census.

Tip of the Week

City Directories - They’re Not Your Old Phone Books
City Directories are "among the most important sources of information about urban areas and their
inhabitants." (A quote from the Library of Congress website)
The word “city” can be misleading. These helpful directories were in many small, urban towns and go
back through the 1800’s.
How can city directories help me in my research?
City directories are not like a phone book. They listed people alphabetically, by address, and evolved
from just the name of the head-of-household to more detailed family information, such as names of all
the occupants at an address, occupation of head-of-household, ages and sometimes where they
moved to. This is a great in-between-census place to look.
“If you’ve ever been frustrated because most of the 1890 US census data was destroyed in a fire,
consider the possibility that your ancestor may be listed in a city directory taken in that year. If you
run into that familiar problem of trying to differentiate between two or more people of the same
names, a city directory might be able to help you there as well. Since the purpose of a published city
directory is to allow the user to locate specific individuals, they made a point of listing identifying
information such as middle initials and occupations.”

Fredrickson, Aubrey. “Genealogy How to Issue”, MyTrees.com, Sept. 21, 2012.
Be sure to look for people with the same surname in the same directory for possible family affiliations.
Where can I find city directories?
• City Directories of the United States of America
• United States Directories Genealogy - FamilySearch Wiki
• Online Historical Directories Web Site (a Google site)
• Google: Search for the [city or county] + “City Directory”
• Google Books: Search for “City Directories” plus your city name.
• New York Public Library: Search for “City Directories.”
• Internet Archive: Search for “City Directories.”
• Ancestry.com: Log in (no account? Visit a FamilySearch facility) and select “Search” then
“Card Catalog” and search for “City Directories” in the “Title” field.
• Cyndislist.com: Select “Categories” then “Directories: City, County, Address, etc.” Reporting
480 links as of 12/17/18
• Library of Congress: In their search bar, leave “Everything” in the 1st field and enter “City
Directories” in the 2nd
.

What else can I find in city directories?
• Occupations, business names and addresses, place of employment.
• Home ownership, place of residence.

Riverton FamilySearch Library Tip of the Week - 03/10/19 Page 2 of 2
• Spouses and maiden names.
• Hidden stories, place of origin, histories
Example:
I opened up Google and entered: google books “Salt Lake City + city directory”. The first result was
Salt Lake County, Utah Online Historical Directories.... I clicked on this site. The first link was an
EBOOK of a “City Directory and Business Guide,” published in 1869. It contained some very
interesting information including a brief history of Joseph Smith and the history of the Church as the
saints crossed the plains. There was section called “Chronological Events of Utah” from 1847
through 1868, which had many names and dates associated with the events.