Research trip journal, day 11

2014.05.19 Monday

2014.05.20 Tuesday

2014.05.21 Wednesday

2014.05.22 Thursday

2014.05.23 Friday

2014.05.24 Saturday

2014.05.25 Sunday

2014.05.26 Monday

2014.05.27 Tuesday

2014.05.28 Wednesday

2014.05.29 Thursday

I drove due south from Osborne to reach I-70 as soon as possible. The route was nice via KS 281 to Luray, KS 18 for a few miles to Lucas, and then a scenic highway across Wilson Dam to the interstate. The entire leg took 2.5 hours. (I was expecting a drive time of 1.5 hours!)

Millie Corbett-Fink Interview

The interview with Millie Fink was more an introduction to each other, since we've carried on an exchange of emails prior to this meeting. Millie is an active genealogist, though she confesses to doing her documentation and name entry to make it convenient to her needs. Perhaps, she advised, that the result is not in line with "established practice." To me, that is okay as an interim step, since many family history buffs barely write anything down.

I pulled out my audio recorder soon after sitting at her kitchen table. It's a good thing, since her information came like leaves falling in an autumn windstorm. Lots of isolated tidbits that eventually get pulled together into a bushel basket.

When I interviewed Fronnie Slothower, Millie's information was stressed as an important source of all the family detail that my database lacks. Millie was happy to work with me to create a GEDCOM from her data software... The name of the software escapes me, but it seemed to perform a good part of the functions of Legacy, which I use. The key was to export a GEDCOM, which the software seemed to hang on, after it had paced through all the individuals. Its progress screen didn't report processing marriages, locations, or sources. So I hope the result is complete.

More to come after I've checked the recording and the output file...

On to Leavenworth

The drive to Leavenworth was through stretches of I-70 that I knew well from traveling to and from KU. My phone connectivity was very poor, and messages I left for Paul Deneke and Joe Hyde were likely too garbled to be understandable. I tried to leave two each, hoping that some part of the drive had better connectivity.

I was arriving so late that I went directly to the Leavenworth Public Library instead of checking in at the Econolodge as I drove past it. I would have to retrace my path by about five miles to do so.

I researched the Leavenworth City Directories and found five or more addresses for the family from 1879 through 1918. I photographed them all, opening to pages for "Cohn," "Cone," Kone," "Kohn," "Krohn," and "Kuhn" to make sure that typical misspellings were available for later review. Before she left a bit after 5:00 p.m., the librarian brought several other books with indexes to marriages, deaths, and burials. She said the birth indexes were online and at the courthouse. The marriage index at the library showed Gertrude Kohn's marriage. The death index and burial index may help me find the graves for the family in Mount Calvary cemetery. I finished by 8:30 with photographs of the relevant index entries, a half hour before the library was to close.

After a passable Thai meal downtown, I spent the evening at the hotel identifying the files. Unfortunately the internet connection in the motel was unavailable throughout the evening. I had not printed any materials in advance, so an online connection was critical here. When I called the front desk about the connection, I was assured the internet would be available by the morning. I woke at 4:00 a.m., found the wireless could not connect, complained again, and was given a tech support number. The service set up an exception for my computer so I could pass through the firewall, whether it was theirs or mine. With that, I was able to plan my drive through the city to photograph homes and churches, as well as to plan alternative routes for the drive home.

Chronology of the Leavenworth Kohn Family

The Michael Kohn family did not have a happy time in Leavenworth. He continued to work as a carpenter, and one son followed the same occupation.

2014.05.30 Friday

Using a city directory

A city directory can be a useful tool for a genealogist who is researching a family or person in the United States, Canada, Australia, or the United Kingdom. Often a city directory is published as an annual project of a newspaper, and this sort of publication may be available when a town reaches a population of several thousand inhabitants. Sometimes the publication schedule varies from annual; biennial, quintannual, and irregular periods are all possible. In larger cities, two or sometimes more publications may exist for the same year.

Similar to the city directory is a county directory for rural locations. This type of directory is typically published by a land abstractor or realty company. The detail about each resident may not identify whether the family owns or leases land, and it may not identify land owners who live in nearby towns.

A city directory usually lists only heads of household and people who are "gainfully employed." Thus, through the 1960s, you might expect a city directory to contain a large majority of men. The few women listed before the mid-20th Century may be piece workers at home or owners of small shops that cater to women's needs, such as dressmakers, milleners (hat makers), cooks, and proprietors of boarding houses. Some publications offer lists of residents, some list businesses by category, some list both residents and categories of businesses. Some publications include ancillary information, such as lists of organizations, schools, churches, hospitals, and professionals by group. Many publications include street maps and voting ward maps. Almost all city directories include paid business advertisements, which is the primary source of income for the publisher. Sales of the directories is a secondary source of income.

The date of publication marks the end of a period of data gathering. The published information may be as much as as two years old, and almost certain to be at least a few months old. The data was usually amassed from responses to in-person interviews for smaller towns or a mail survey. Because the data was self-reported, it is relatively accurate for name spelling, occupation, and address. The absence of an expected name may not mean that the person has moved, but just that a respondent may have missed the deadline or decided not to participate.

The worth of directories for a city increases by comparing the listings over several years. A person may be skipped in one year and reappear at the same address—or a new  address—the next year. Several years' directories help record the financial growth of a family, in which the children become part of the workforce and gain listings separate from their parents.

The future of city directories

Perhaps the city directory will become less important or harder to use as demographics change in the United States. When fewer women take the family name of a husband, when blended families present two or even three surnames, the tracing of a family can become much harder to follow.

Several online sources have made inroads to the function of a city directory, most notably the White Pages and Yellow Pages. However, these alternatives are dynamic, and—as far as I know—no historical database has yet been developed as an online resource that may supplant the published city directory.

Where to find city directories

Many libraries hold a full series of the city directories published for local cities, and most local historical societies hold local city directories. Several large libraries also have acquired a large holding of city directories, in physical books, microfilms, digitized records, or a combination of these media. The Family History Library of the LDS Church holds many city directories in its microfilm collection, and you can arrange for renting and viewing the microfilms at a local Family History Library.

Several online genealogy services include a search of city directories that are logged in their storage (e.g., Ancestry, Family Search).

Further research

Topic: Are city directories available for European cities and cities in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa?

Additional links

Duke University Library
Rootsweb Guide to Tracing Family Trees
ProGenealogists Education
Genealogy Research Associates listing of online and physical resources, in collaborative development
Distant Cousin online archive of searchable city directories
Miriam J. Robbins online listing for historical alumni, business, city, county, farm, Masonic, rural, social, and other types of directories

© Thomas G. Kohn, 2013, revised 2014.05.08 and 2014.06.22.