Wednesday, December 30, 2009

What's Coming in 2010 - and a New Website!

Happy New Year!

While I don't have any new pages or updates to report (I've been busy with holiday happenings and family gatherings, as I'm sure many of you are), I would like to let you know of some things to watch for in 2010.

Today I received an email from the New England Historical and Genealogical Society. They have added the following directories to their subscription website:
  • Cleveland, Ohio: Boyd’s Directory, 1857 
  • Medford, Mass.: 1930
  • Mobile, Ala.: 1838
  • Norwalk, Ohio: 1875
  • Sacramento, Calif.: 1882
  • Toronto, Ont.: 1856
Don't have a subscription to NEHGS? See if your local library does. Mine, the Spokane Public Library, recently added an in-building subscription.
    Look for free Polk directories for cities in Washington State to appear on the Washington State Digital Archives website sometime in 2010 (I'll send out a notice).

    Ancestry has announced the following databases will be available in 2010.
    • Scottish city directories, 1800s–1900s - probably World Deluxe subscription and/or UK subscription
    • Canadian city and area directories, 1800s–1900s - probably World Deluxe and/or Canadian subscription
    • 1950s U.S. city directories (billed as 1950 census substitute) - U.S. Deluxe subscription
    Again, check your local library to see if they have Ancestry's Library Edition (US libraries) to access city directories (and many other records and databases) for free.

    And finally, while this has nothing to do with historical directories, I did want to announce to you, my readers of another new website I've started, the Online Historical Newspapers Website. Like the Online Historical Directories Website, you'll find links digitized historical newspapers online available for free or through subscription. This site will not link to transcribed articles or obituaries, but to whole digitized newspapers only!  And like the directories site, there is a corresponding blog for the newspapers site to keep you updated of changes and additions. Please add the site and the blog to your list of resources!

    Happy New Year to you and yours. May 2010 see the coming down of brick walls and successful research!

    Find Ancestors

    Tuesday, December 22, 2009

    AK, CA, DC, IL, and WLS New Pages and Updates

    With the busyness of the holidays, I haven't done too much with the site, but here are a few new pages and updates for you:

    New Pages:

    Caernarvonshire, Wales - with 14 links from the Bangor Civic Society (originally listed on the Wales page)

    Glamorgonshire, Wales - with one link from the Historical Directories site (not to be confused with my site, the Online Historical Directories website!)


    Updates:

    Alaska - 13 new links, all from the Alaska-Yukon Territory Business Directory, Polk, 1923-4 at USGenWeb

    Orange County, California - three new links from the 1936 County Directory at Ancestry

    San Mateo County, California - one new update from the Online Archive of California

    District of Columbia - one new update from Genealogy Trails

    Cook County, Illinois - the 1928-9 Polk Street Directory from the Chicago Historical Society

    Wales - now organized by historical county and links moved to the new Caernarvonshire page; also the page has a new URL, so if you've bookmarked or otherwise linked to it, please make the necessary changes

    ---

    Finally, a bit of news: if you have an Ancestry subscription or use the Ancestry Library Edition, you'll discover that they've made it easier to browse their directories database (as well as use their many other databases) by state, then city or county, and finally by year using a drop down menu on the right. For more information, read this post from their blog.


    Find Ancestors

    Sunday, December 13, 2009

    GA, LA, and TN Updates

    I have found some more links at state digital archives websites. Also, Taneya Koonce notified me that the Tennessee State Library and Archives website has a list of free online directories for the city of Nashville. Some of them are held by the library and others are at other websites.

    Updates:

    Georgia - one new link from the Digital Library of Georgia

    Orleans Parish, Louisiana - one new link from the LOUISiana Digital Library

    Davidson County, Tennessee - four new links from the Tennessee State Library and Archives website, four new links from Google Books, one new link from Jeanne Johnson's website, and one new link from EveNDon.


    Find Ancestors

    Sunday, December 6, 2009

    CA, ON, WI, and WY New Pages and Updates

    Here are more California directories from Ancestry, as well as some I found for Ontario at public library websites after reading an article in the latest issue of Internet Genealogy. I also discovered a link to the Wisconsin Historical Society Digital Collection on a genealogy blog I read and found some more directories there.

    New Pages:


    Napa County, California - with 12 links from Ancestry

    San Luis Obispo County, California - with five links from Ancestry

    Brant County, Ontario - with one link from the Brantford Public Library

    Durham Region, Ontario - with one link from the Whitby Public Library

    York Region, Ontario - with one link from the Pickering Public Library

    Sauk County, Wisconsin - with two links from the Wisconsin Historical Society Digital Collection


    Updates:

    California - now with 28 out of 59 counties linked

    Alameda County, California - 17 new links from Ancestry

    Contra Costa County, California - nine new links from Ancestry

    Merced County, California - 12 new links from Ancestry

    Stanislaus County, California - nine new links from Ancestry

    Sutter County, California - five new links from Ancestry

    Yuba County, California - five new links from Ancestry

    Ontario - now with 23 out of 50 census districts linked

    Oxford County, Ontario - with two links from the Oxford County Library

    Simcoe County, Ontario - with one link from the Innisfil Public Library

    Wisconsin - now with 12 out of 72 counties linked

    Sheridan County, Wyoming - one new link from Ancestry


    Find Ancestors

    Sunday, November 29, 2009

    MI and ON Updates

    I decided to take a break from California directories at Ancestry, and instead added some from Michigan and Ontario at Ancestry, Google Books, and the Hathi Trust Digital Library. There are so many wonderful resources out there, that when I get bored adding links from one place, I can mix it up by working with a different resource or a different location...or both!

    Updates:

    Calhoun County, Michigan - one new link from Google Books and 11 new links from Ancestry

    Lenawee County, Michigan - one new link from Hathi Trust Digital Library, five new links from Ancestry, and one new link from Google Books

    Washtenaw County, Michigan - 14 new links from Google, 22 new links from Ancestry, and 9 new links from the Hathi Trust Digital Library

    Bruce County, Ontario - one new link from Google Books

    Wellington County, Ontario - one new link from Google Books


    Find Ancestors

    Friday, November 27, 2009

    CA New Pages and Updates

    New Pages:

    Imperial County, California - with seven links from Ancestry


    Updates:

    California - with 26 out of 59 counties linked

    Contra Costa County, California - added one link from Ancestry

    Los Angeles County, California - added one new link from Ancestry

    San Joaquin County, California - added three new links from Ancestry

    San Mateo County, California - added 11 new links from Ancestry

    Santa Clara County, California - added 14 new links from Ancestry


    Find Ancestors

    Thursday, November 26, 2009

    Another New CA Page and Update

    I've just added the Fresno County, California page to the website with 16 links from Ancestry, and I've updated the California page to reflect that I have 25 out of 59 counties listed. There are many, many California directories available from many resources--free and subscription--on the web, so if your years or counties aren't represented yet, stay tuned!

    Find Ancestors

    Saturday, November 21, 2009

    CA New Page and Update

    After taking a break for a bit, I'm back adding links. Here's the latest...

    New Page:


    Humboldt County, California - with 10 links from Ancestry

    Update:

    California
    - now with 24 out of 59 counties linked


    Find Ancestors

    Saturday, November 7, 2009

    Corrections Made to Jefferson Co., AL Page

    I do make mistakes on my website from time to time. And I DO appreciate when someone points them out! The last thing I want is an error or broken link to frustrate my visitors.

    Thanks go to Ben Peterson of the Southern History Department at the Birmingham (Alabama) Public Library. I had found two links to Birmingham city directories at Google Books and had posted them on the Jefferson County, Alabama page. Somehow I didn't take the time to read the title page, like I normally do. If I had, I would have realized that these city directories were for Birmingham, England! Ben was kind enough to point this out to me, and I have made the necessary corrections.

    To view Birmingham, Alabama directory links, visit my Jefferson County, Alabama page.

    To view Birmingham, England directory links, visit my Historic County of Warwickshire, England page (this page is new to the site).

    Tuesday, November 3, 2009

    IL, ME, MD, MA, MI, NY, OH, and WI New Pages and Updates

    Here are more updates to historical directories found at the New England Historical and Genealogical Society website:

    New Pages:

    Androscoggin County, Maine
    - with one directory from NEHGS

    Updates:

    Cook County, Illinois
    - three new directories from NEHGS

    Maine - now with eight out of 16 counties linked

    City of Baltimore, Maryland - one new directory from NEHGS

    Suffolk County, Massachusetts - one new directory from NEHGS

    Wayne County, Michigan - two new directories from NEHGS; also corrected links to three directories from the Hathi Trust Digital Library

    New York City, New York - six new directories from NEHGS

    Rensselaer County, New York
    - one new directory from NEHGS

    Hamilton County, Ohio - one new directory from NEHGS

    Lucas County, Ohio - one new directory from NEHGS

    Dane County, Wisconsin - one new directory from NEHGS

    Sunday, November 1, 2009

    Summit County, OH New Page

    At long last! I have completed the page for Summit County, Ohio with 93 links from the Akron-Summit County Public Library website and one from the New England Historic and Genealogical Society. There are probably directories for this county at Ancestry, as well, but this is a great start! Also, this now means my Ohio page has 30 out of 88 counties linked!

    Thanks to Joe Beine for the tip! Check out his wonderful resources here. He and his helpful websites have recently been featured in an article in Discovering Family History (November/December 2009 issue). Congratulations, Joe!

    Friday, October 30, 2009

    IL, MA, MO, NH, NY, OH, and QC New Pages and Updates

    I'm taking another break from adding links from Ancestry and have been adding some from the New England Historic and Genealogical Society, some to St. Louis, Missouri directories at Google (thanks, John!) AND from the Akron-Summit County (Ohio) Public Library. The page for the latter is not quite ready; it takes some time to download each directory (and there are a lot!) to view the details (location[s] covered; compiler; verify the publishing year). Meanwhile, here are the latest I've added from the NEHGS site, which is a subscription website, as well as the St. Louis directories. Stay tuned for the Summit County, Ohio page to be added in the next week or so.

    New Pages:

    St. Louis County, Missouri - with one link from Google Books

    Carroll County, New Hampshire - with one link from NEHGS

    Franklin County, New York - with one link from NEGHS

    Lake County, Ohio - with one link from NEGHS

    Lorain County, Ohio - with one link from NEHGS

    Portage County, Ohio - with one link from NEHGS


    Updates:

    Cook County, Illinois - four new links from NEHGS

    Worcester County, Massachusetts - three new links from NEHGS

    Missouri - now with five out of 114 counties linked plus the City of St. Louis

    City of St. Louis, Missouri - three new links from Google Books

    New Hampshire - now with seven out of 10 counties linked

    Cheshire County, New Hampshire - one new link from NEHGS

    Cuyahoga County, New Hampshire - one new link from NEHGS

    New York - now with 24 out of 62 counties plus New York City linked

    New York City, New York - one new link from NEHGS

    Ohio - now with 29 out of 88 counties linked

    Erie County, Ohio - one new link from NEHGS

    Huron County, Ohio - one new link form NEHGS

    Medina County, Ohio - one new link from NEHGS

    Stark County, Ohio - one new link from NEHGS

    Quebec
    - one new link from NEHGS

    Sunday, October 25, 2009

    San Diego County, CA New Page

    I finally completed the page for San Diego County, California which includes 34 links from Ancestry and one link from the San Diego Historical Society. I have looked all over to find websites that might have online directories for this county, without success, with the exception of the historical society. If you know of any, please let me know.

    Wednesday, October 21, 2009

    Butte County, CA and other CA New Pages and Updates

    In my last post, I mentioned that many public libraries are scanning and putting their local directories online. On a whim last night, I googled "butte county library" just to see if there were more directories for that county than what I had found on Ancestry (my husband's Midkiff ancestors were there in the early twentieth century). To my delight, I found that the Butte County Library district had indeed scanned and uploaded directories in .pdf format to the Internet. One directory included several surrounding counties, so here are the new pages and updates to reflect my finds:

    New Pages:

    Colusa County, California
    - with two links from Ancestry and one from the Butte County Library

    Sutter County, California - with two links from Ancestry and one from the Butte County Library

    Tehama County, California - with two links from Ancestry and one from the Butte County Library

    Yuba County, California - with two links from Ancestry and one from the Butte County Library


    Updates:

    California - now with 22 out of 58 counties linked

    Butte County, California
    - 14 new links from Butte County Library


    If you have ancestors from San Diego County, California, stay tuned for the release of that page in the near future!

    A Change in Name

    I've decided to change the name of the website to Online Historical Directories, rather than Online City, County, and Rural Directories. The reason is that "city, county, and rural" are only a part of the historical directories I'm linking to. There are farm, church, business, community, medical, voter, school, telephone, and lodge directories, as examples.

    You'll still see "city, county, and rural" on many pages until I get them changed over, but I feel the term "historical" is more accurate and encompasses the variety of directories that I'm finding online.

    I'm still stunned at the amount of directories I have found online, both for free and at subscription websites. What I have linked to so far on the website is really only the tip of the iceberg! We are so fortunate to be living in this digital age with access to resources becoming easier and easier.

    Many public library districts are scanning and placing their directories online, because they're finding that not only is it not horribly expensive to do so, but it can be done in small, do-able chunks of time. Also, the images don't take up a ton of expensive web space, especially if they are done in .pdf format. Even smaller public library districts have been able to put their local directories online because of these advantages, and I'm finding a plethora of resources out there that I'm very eager to share with you.

    I appreciate your patience in getting the resources you're specifically looking for linked on the site. If there is ever a specific location that you would like to see linked sooner than later, drop me a line and I'll be happy to work on getting "your" location up and running!

    New City Directories in the NEHGS Digital Library

    If you have a subscription to the New England Historical and Genealogical Society's online digital library, you'll be interested to learn they have added to their collection of online city directories. Their new directories include:
    • Albany, N.Y.: 1844
    • Baltimore, Md.: Matchett’s Baltimore directory, 1829
    • Keene, N.H.: 1871
    • Los Angeles, Calif.: early telephone directory, 1882
    • New York, N.Y.: Longworth’s city directory, 1840.
    I'll be adding links to these on the appropriate pages on my website soon.

    Happy Hunting!

    Sunday, October 11, 2009

    IN, KS, KY, ME, MI, NE, NH, NY, OH, OK, PA, VT, VA, WA New Pages and Updates

    Here are the latest new pages and updates. Most are from Family Tree Connection. I have added all the city and telephone directories from that site, but there are many church, school, and other types of directories to be added at another time. Here's hoping you find some ancestors!

    New Pages:

    Whiteside County, Illinois - with one link from Family Tree Connection

    Reno County, Kansas - with one link from Family Tree Connection

    Clark County, Kentucky - with one link from Family Tree Connection

    Garrard County, Kentucky - with one link from Family Tree Connection

    Franklin County, Maine - with one link from Family Tree Connection

    Kennebec County, Maine - with one link from Family Tree Connection

    Somerset County, Maine - with one link from Family Tree Connection

    Manistee County, Michigan - with one link from Family Tree Connection

    Mason County, Michigan - with one link from Family Tree Connection

    Grafton County, New Hampshire - with one link from Family Tree Connection

    Allen County, Ohio - with one link from Family Tree Connection

    Trumbull County, Ohio - with one link from Family Tree Connection

    Wyandot County, Ohio - with one link from Family Tree Connection

    Ellis County, Oklahoma - with one link from Family Tree Connection

    Cambria County, Pennsylvania - with one link from Family Tree Connection

    Indiana County, Pennsylvania - with one link from Family Tree Connection

    Somerset County, Pennsylvania - with one link from Family Tree Connection

    Botetourt County, Virginia - with one link from Family Tree Connection


    Updates:

    Illinois - now with 24 out of 102 counties linked

    LaSalle County, Illinois - one new link from Family Tree Connection

    Montgomery County, Indiana - one new link from Family Tree Connection and eight new links from Ancestry

    Kansas - now with five out of 105 counties linked

    Kentucky - now with ten out of 120 counties linked

    Madison County, Kentucky - one new link from Family Tree Connection

    Maine - now with seven out of 16 counties linked

    Michigan - now with 21 out of 83 counties linked

    Lenawee County, Michigan
    - one new link from Hathi Trust Digital Library

    Douglas County, Nebraska - one new link from Family Tree Connection

    New Hampshire
    - now with six out of ten counties linked

    Belknap County, New Hampshire - two new links from Family Tree Connection

    Sullivan County, New Hampshire - one new link from Family Tree Connection

    New York - now with 25 out of 62 counties plus New York City linked

    Otsego County, New York - one new link from Family Tree Connection

    Ohio - now with 26 out of 88 counties linked

    Oklahoma - now with three out of 88 counties linked

    Pennsylvania - now with 22 out of 70 counties linked

    Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania - one new link from Family Tree Connection

    Windsor County, Vermont - one new link from Family Tree Connection

    Virginia - now with four out of 134 counties and independent cities linked

    King County, Washington - one new link from Hathi Trust Digital Library

    Thursday, October 8, 2009

    AL, GA, IA, KY, MA, MO, NH, NJ, NY, NC, OH, ON, PA New Pages and Updates

    I've been taking a break from adding California directories from Ancestry, and instead have been adding directories from Family Tree Connections. These are nice because most of them feature small communities, rather than the large cities one sees at other directory databases and websites.

    New Pages:

    Polk County, Georgia - with two links from Family Tree Connections

    Humboldt County, Iowa - with two links from Family Tree Connections

    Union County, Iowa - with one link from Family Tree Connections

    Madison County, Kentucky - with one link from Family Tree Connections

    Franklin County, Massachusetts - with one link from Family Tree Connections

    Callaway County, Missouri - with one link from Family Tree Connections

    Morris County, New Jersey - with one link from Family Tree Connections

    Washington County, New York - with one link from Family Tree Connections

    Surry County, North Carolina - with one link from Family Tree Connections

    Crawford County, Ohio - with one link from Family Tree Connections

    Medina County, Ohio - with one link from Family Tree Connections

    Peel County, Ontario - with one link from Family Tree Connections

    Simcoe County, Ontario - with one link from Family Tree Connections

    York County, Pennsylvania - with one link from Family Tree Connections

    Clark County, Wisconsin - with one link from Family Tree Connections

    Barron County, Wisconsin - with one link from Family Tree Connections

    Updates:

    Georgia - now with six out of 83 counties and city-counties linked

    Iowa - now with seven out of 99 counties linked

    Kentucky - now with eight out of 120 counties linked

    Calhoun County, Alabama - one new link from Family Tree Connections

    Massachusetts - now with ten out of 14 counties linked

    Missouri - now with five out of 114 counties plus St. Louis linked

    Hillsborough County, New Hampshire - two new links from Family Tree Connections

    Merrimack County, New Hampshire - two new links from Family Tree Connections

    New Jersey - now with 11 out of 21 counties linked

    New York - now with 24 out of 62 counties plus New York City linked

    New York City, New York - one new link from Family Tree Connections

    North Carolina - now with five out of 100 counties linked

    Ohio - now with 23 out of 88 counties linked

    Ontario - now with 20 out of 50 census districts linked

    Pennsylvania - now with 19 out of 67 counties linked

    Lebanon County, Pennsylvania - one new link from Family Tree Connections

    Wisconsin - now with 11 out of 72 counties linked

    Sunday, October 4, 2009

    CA, DE, NJ, and VA New Pages and Updates

    Way back when, I promised to dig out the links to city directories at some now-obsolete free city directory websites archived at the Wayback Machine. Please be patient with these links, as the pages load slowly, and some do not load at all. There were some directories I could not access at all, which is a shame. Many of these sites had great resources at one time.

    I have also added more California directories links from Ancestry, and still have many more to add from that site. And there is a link from Family Tree Connection, a smaller subscription-based genealogy website (sometimes better known by its parent company, Genealogy Today).


    New Pages:

    Butte County, California - with six links from Ancestry


    Updates:

    California - now with 18 counties linked

    Calaveras County, California - two new links from Ancestry

    Merced County, California - two new links from Ancestry

    San Joaquin County, California - 37 new links from Ancestry; directories span 1856 to 1972!

    San Mateo County, California - 18 new links from Ancestry

    Stanislaus County, California - two new links from Ancestry

    Tuolumne County, California - two new links from Ancestry

    New Castle County, Delaware - one new link from Delaware City Directory via the Wayback Machine

    Essex County, New Jersey - one new link from Family Tree Connection

    Norfolk, Virginia - one new link from Virginia City Directory via the Wayback Machine

    Wednesday, September 30, 2009

    CA New Pages and Updates

    California, here we come! I've been busy adding links to California directories found at Ancestry and elsewhere. There are many, many more to be added, not just from these resources, but from around the Internet. If you don't see the county of your choice listed, or the group of years listed that you need, be assured that they will likely be added in the near future!

    New Pages:

    Kern County, California - with 13 links from Ancestry

    Madera County, California - with six links from Ancestry

    Merced County, California - with 18 links from Ancestry

    Santa Barbara County, California - with 50 links from Ancestry, spanning the years 1886 to 1976


    Updates:

    California - one new link each from the Golden Nugget Library and the San Francisco Genealogy website; now with 17 counties linked

    Calaveras County, California
    - three new links from the Golden Nugget Library and one from the San Francisco Genealogy website

    Los Angeles County, California - five new links from Ancestry

    San Bernardino County, California - 24 new links from Ancestry

    San Joaquin County, California
    - six new links from the Golden Nugget Library and one from the San Francisco Genealogy website

    Stanislaus County, California
    - three new links from the Golden Nugget Library and one from the San Francisco Genealogy website

    Tuolumne County, California - three new links from the Golden Nugget Library and one from the San Francisco Genealogy website

    Friday, September 25, 2009

    AB, AL, AR, CO, CT, IL, ME, MI, PA New Pages and Updates

    Although I haven't posted anything lately on this blog, I have been busy adding links to the site! Whenever I had five or 10 minutes to spare, I'd add a few more links. Now that I have my main computer repaired after four months, I'm hoping to be able to work more on this project. Here the new pages and updates I've added in the last two and a half weeks:

    New Pages:

    Camrose County, Alberta
    - with 13 links from Peel's Prairie Provinces and two links from CanadaGenWeb

    Carroll County, Arkansas
    - with one link from Ancestry

    Craighead County, Arkansas - with four links from Ancestry and one from BYU Digital Books

    Garland County, Arkansas - with eight links from Ancestry and one from BYU Digital Books

    Sebastian County, Arkansas - with four links from Ancestry and one from BYU Digital Books

    Union County, Arkansas - with five links from Ancestry and one from BYU Digital Books

    Washington County, Arkansas
    - with four links from Ancestry and one from BYU Digital Books

    McDonough County, Illinois - with one link from BYU Digital Books


    Updates:

    Mobile County, Alabama
    - two new links from BYU Digital Books

    Alberta - added link to Camrose County; now with six counties/regions/cities linked, plus 13 links to province-wide directories

    Arkansas
    - with one new links from BYU Digital Books and now with nine counties linked

    Hempstead County, Arkansas
    - two new links; one from BYU Digital Books, and the other from Ancestry

    Jefferson County, Alabama - two new links from BYU Digital Books

    Montgomery County, Alabama - one new link from BYU Digital Books

    Pulaski County, Arkansas - 18 new links from Ancestry and one from BYU Digital Books

    Weld County, Colorado - one new link from BYU Digital Books

    New Haven, Connecticut - five new links from WorldVitalRecords

    Illinois - now with 23 counties linked, plus three links from EveNDon

    Knox County, Maine - one new link from Ancestry and two from BYU Digital Books

    Kent County, Michigan - one new link from BYU Digital Books

    Lebanon County, Pennsylvania - one new link from BYU Digital Books

    Harris County, Texas - two new links from BYU Digital Books

    Wednesday, September 9, 2009

    Ancestry and Footnote - News About City Directories

    Ancestry has added more city directories to its already great collection. From their news release today:

    U.S. City Directories Update, 1950 - 1969
    City directories can be an amazing resource for tracing ancestors between census years—or, in this case, tracing more contemporary ancestors who lived past the 1930 census—the last census to be made available online.

    We’ve added more than 800 city directories from the 1950s and 60s, from Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine and California.
    Also, as part of its celebration of New York's 400th anniversary, they have released several database collections, including:

    City directories for Albany, Buffalo, New York City, Niagara Falls, Rochester, Watertown and White Plains: Most of these directories are from the 20th century, but some of the New York City directories go back as far as 1833.

    Footnote released the following info earlier this week. While not adding more directories lately, they do want people to know about their collection:

    You'll find the one of the best collections of City Directories on the web

    Featuring over 2 million pages, the City Directories Collection on Footnote.com has records dating back to 1785. Before phone books came into the picture, many cities and towns published directories of their residents. These valuable records often contain:

    • The names of the husband and wife
    • Occupation and name of employer
    • Addresses
    • and more.

    View a list of our City Directories today.

    Today Harold Henderson mentioned on his blog some quirks of Footnote's city directories that are pretty important to notice.

    If you don't have subscriptions to either website, many public libraries have Ancestry available for free onsite. Also, most Family History Centers have Footnote (and WorldVitalRecords, which also has many city directories) available for free at their locations as well!

    Monday, September 7, 2009

    AZ New Page and Updates

    I've been working on the Arizona pages lately and added all the links I found at Ancestry for this state. I also found many links in the USGenWeb Archives and some local projects like MyCochise and AZClips. There are many more links at the USGenWeb Archives for Arizona counties, so look for them to be added in the future.

    New Page:

    Cochise County, Arizona - with one link each from EveNDon and the Internet Archive, 101 links from the USGenWeb Archives, 22 links from MyCochise, and six from Ancestry


    Updates:

    Arizona - now with two statewide links (one each from EveNDon and the Internet Archive) and with three counties linked

    Maricopa County, Arizona - now with two links each from EveNDon and the Internet Archive, one from DistantCousin, seven from AZClips, and six from Ancestry

    Pima County, Arizona - now with two links each from EveNDon and the Internet Archive, and three from Ancestry

    Thursday, September 3, 2009

    Ireland and United Kingdom New Pages and Updates

    New Pages:

    Berkshire, England - one link moved from England page

    Buckinghamshire, England
    - one link moved from England page

    Cumberland, England - one link moved from England page

    London, England - with one link from EveNDon and one link moved from England page

    Oxfordshire, England - one link moved from England page

    Yorkshire, England - one link moved from England page

    County Cork, Ireland
    - with one link from EveNDon


    Updates:

    England - added historic counties table and some links moved to appropriate county pages; one new link from EveNDon; links added to help determine for which county a city, town, or village is a part

    Ireland - added historic counties table and links moved to appropriate county pages

    Sunday, August 23, 2009

    Canada New Pages and Updates

    I added all the directories for Canada from the EveNDon website, and in doing so, added and reorganized many of the pages.

    New Pages:

    Algoma District, Ontario - with two links from EveNDon

    Bruce County, Ontario - includes one link from Our Roots moved from Ontario page

    Municipality of Chatham-Kent, Ontario - with one link from EveNDon

    Elgin County, Ontario - with four links from EveNDon

    Essex County, Ontario - with three links from EveNDon

    Grey County, Ontario - with one link from EveNDon

    City of Hamilton, Ontario - with one link from EveNDon

    Hastings County, Ontario - includes one link from Ancestry moved from Ontario page

    Lambton County, Ontario - with one link from EveNDon

    Leeds and Grenville United Counties, Ontario - with one link from EveNDon

    Middlesex County, Ontario - with two links from EveNDon

    Regional Municipality of Niagara, Ontario - with two links from EveNDon

    Nipissing District, Ontario - with two links from EveNDon

    City of Ottawa, Ontario - includes six links from Ancestry moved from Ontario page, plus three new links from EveNDon

    Oxford County, Ontario - with two links from EveNDon

    City of Toronto, Ontario - with one link from EveNDon

    Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario - with one link from EveNDon

    Wellington County, Ontario - with one link from EveNDon

    Prince Edward Island - with one link from EveNDon


    Updates:

    British Columbia - one new link from EveNDon

    Canada - added one link from EveNDon; now with 11 provinces and territories linked

    Quebec - three new links from EveNDon

    Ontario - added table listing 50 census districts; moved links to appropriate pages; now with one provincewide link and 18 census districts linked

    Saturday, August 22, 2009

    MS New Pages

    I have added links to all the directories found at Ancestry for the state of Mississippi. Unfortunately, like the state of Alabama, there is a dearth of online directories for Mississippi. If you know of any, please contact me immediately!

    New Pages:

    Mississippi - with eight counties linked

    Adams County, Mississippi - with five links from Ancestry

    Forrest County, Mississippi - with seven links from Ancestry

    Harrison County, Mississippi - with nine links from Ancestry

    Hinds County, Mississippi - with eight links from Ancestry

    Jackson County, Mississippi - with one link from Ancestry

    Jones County, Mississippi - with four links from Ancestry

    Lauderdale County, Mississippi - with eight links from Ancestry

    Washington County, Mississippi - with five links from Ancestry

    DC Updates and the EveNDon Website

    With the addition of three new links to the District of Columbia's webpage, I have concluded adding all known links from the EveNDon website for United States' directories.

    However, there are many other directories on that website from other countries, which I will eventually link to. Also, I just discovered that Don has stored some digital copies of U.S. directories on the DocStoc website; again, I'll be adding links to those as well.

    You may notice that as you peruse the EveNDon website that I may not have listed every resource for a location that is available on that site. That's because I tried to stick closely to directories only; there are many gazetteers listed under the directory category on the EveNDon site, but I only linked those that had some sort of directory in them, like a business directory.

    EveNDon have great resources and many digital books on their website beyond city directories, which I highly recommend you use for your genealogical and historical research!

    Thursday, August 20, 2009

    PA, SC, TN, UT New Pages and Updates

    Even more links from EveNDon:

    New Pages:

    Davis County, Utah
    - with one link from EveNDon

    Weber County, Utah - with one link from EveNDon

    Updates:

    Mercer County, Pennsylvania - one new link from EveNDon

    Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania - one new link from EveNDon

    Charlston County, South Carolina - one new link from EveNDon

    Tennessee - one new statewide link from EveNDon; one county linked

    Davidson County, Tennessee
    - one new link from EveNDon

    Utah - three new statewide links from EveNDon; now with four counties linked

    Salt Lake County, Utah - three new links from EveNDon

    Wednesday, August 19, 2009

    IL, IN, KY, MO, OH, VT, VA, WV New Pages and Updates

    I'm nearly done adding links from EveNDon's wonderful website. Here are the latest:

    New Pages:

    Alexander County, Illinois - with one link from EveNDon

    Randolph County, Illinois - with one link from EveNDon

    Dearborn County, Indiana - with one link from EveNDon

    Jefferson County, Indiana - with one link from EveNDon

    Daviess County, Kentucky - with one link from EveNDon

    Mason County, Kentucky
    - with one link from EveNDon

    McCracken County, Kentucky - with one link from EveNDon

    Cape Girardeau County, Missouri
    - with one link from EveNDon

    Belmont County, Ohio - with one link from EveNDon

    Brown County, Ohio - with one link from EveNDon

    Gallia County, Ohio
    - with one link from EveNDon

    Lawrence County, Ohio
    - with one link from EveNDon

    Meigs County, Ohio - with one link from EveNDon

    Scioto County, Ohio - with one link from EveNDon

    Washington County, Ohio - with one link from EveNDon

    LaMoille County, Vermont - with one link from EveNDon

    Orange County, Vermont
    - with one link from EveNDon

    Windsor County, Vermont
    - with one link from EveNDon

    City of Richmond, Virginia - with two links from EveNDon

    Ohio County, West Virginia - with one link from EveNDon

    Wood County, West Virginia - with one link from EveNDon


    Updates:

    Illinois - now with three statewide links from EveNDon and 22 counties linked

    Indiana - now with 18 counties linked

    Kentucky
    - one new statewide link from EveNDon; now with seven counties linked

    Missouri
    - now with four counties linked

    Ohio - two new statewide links from EveNDon; now with 19 counties linked

    Vermont - one new statewide link from EveNDon; now with six counties linked

    West Virginia - now with four counties linked

    Monday, August 17, 2009

    AL New Pages and Updates

    I have been very disappointed with the dearth of online directories for the state of Alabama. Ancestry has some, but Footnote and WorldVitalRecords have none. There are few found at the many digital book websites, and even places like USGenWeb don't have many transcribed. If you know of any online directories for Alabama, please send me links immediately!

    The following are all new pages and updates that I created for Alabama yesterday.

    New Pages:

    Dallas County, Alabama - with four links from Ancestry

    Mobile County, Alabama - with 28 links from Ancestry and one from Duke University Libraries

    Montgomery County, Alabama
    - with 17 links from Ancestry

    Morgan County, Alabama
    - with four links from Ancestry


    Updates:

    Alabama - now with eight counties linked

    Calhoun County, Alabama - five new links from Ancestry

    Jefferson County, Alabama - 12 new links from Ancestry

    Sunday, August 16, 2009

    WorldVitalRecords Free Site Access Extended

    You may have seen this mentioned on other blogs (and I'm sorry I didn't get this posted earlier...was out of town and ill), but WorldVitalRecords has extended their free site access through Tuesday, August 18th. No credit card is required; just a name and e-mail address.

    Lots of directories available!

    Tuesday, August 11, 2009

    WorldVitalRecords is Free for Three Days

    Here's a good way to check out directories for free:

    WorldVitalRecords.com Opens Site Allowing for Free Public Access to More Than One Billion Family History Records

    With the addition of the largest number of records to be released in a single day since the site launched in 2006


    PROVO, UT, August 11, 2009 - WorldVitalRecords.com, an online family history resource, today announced the addition of the largest number of records to be released in a single day since the site launched in 2006. To commemorate this milestone, for the first time WorldVitalRecords is offering free public access to its entire online collection of historical and genealogical records beginning August 11 and continuing through August 13, 2009. The public will have unlimited access to more than one billion records in over 11,000 databases from around the world including newspapers, census, birth, marriage, death, immigration and military records; family trees; stories and publications; and yearbooks.

    "As a genealogy enthusiast, I'm thrilled that people can go to one place like WorldVitalRecords.com, try family history research for free and find their parents or grandparents, and see how simple it is to start tracing back and discovering stories that bring family history to life," said Jim Ericson, Vice-President of Marketing for Family Link. "This is a rare opportunity to delve into the records and discover information about your family and ancestors you may have never known."

    Featured records in this release include:

    Historical Newspapers
    Through a partnership with Newspaper Archive, WorldVitalRecords is adding access to pages from a variety of newspapers from all over the United States, dating from 1759 through 1923. This collection features images of entire newspapers from the western frontier, the Midwest at the turn of the century, and the long-time standard of our nation's news, "The New York Times" which includes over 7 million names. Newspaper Archive produces the largest historical newspaper database online, and the collection is fully searchable by keyword and date, and individual pages can be saved or printed.

    According to Gena Philibert Ortega, Genealogy Community Director for FamilyLink, "Part of the fun of family history is uncovering details about our ancestors’ daily lives -- the events of the day, the goods and the services they bought. Newspapers allow us to better understand our ancestors."

    Immigration Records
    Living in a country of immigrants, ship passenger lists and other records documenting immigration can be an essential part in learning more about your family history. It is a thrilling experience to see their names transcribed on paper the day they entered this country through the Port of New York. Browsing and searching these passenger lists is a perfect way for someone to start researching their family history. This record collection provides documentation of over 150,000 passengers who arrived on nearly 8,000 ships at one of the busiest ports in the United States, New York, from 1820-1832.

    Yearbooks
    In partnership with the website E-Yearbook.com, WorldVitalRecords is doubling its collection of digitized yearbooks. This collection features university yearbooks from the late 1800 to mid 1950s. E-Yearbook.com houses the largest collection of old college yearbooks on the Internet. Universities featured this week include Duke University, University of Oklahoma, Iowa State and the College of William and Mary.

    Vital Records, Military Records and Tax Lists
    Other records being released on the site include birth, marriage, tax lists, military records, and death records from Maine, North Carolina, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

    Focused on helping users discover and share their family history, WorldVitalRecords adds new records to their online collection everyday.

    About WorldVitalRecords.com
    WorldVitalRecords.com is simplifying family history research by providing many easy-to-use tools and resources to discover and connect with others interested in family history. WorldVitalRecords provides access to more than one billion international and U.S. records WorldVitalRecords.com provides affordable access to genealogy databases and family history tools used by more than 258,000 monthly visitors. The site registers 3.6 million monthly pages views and serves tens of thousands of paying subscribers. With thousands of databases, including birth, death, military, census, and parish records, WorldVitalRecords.com makes it easy to fill in missing information in your family tree.

    WorldVitalRecords is part of the FamilyLink.com, Inc. network of family-focused interactive properties including, GenealogyWise, WebTree, WorldHistory, and the We're Related and My Family applications on Facebook

    Wednesday, August 5, 2009

    MO, MT, NV, NJ, NY, NC, OH New Pages and Updates

    Added quite a few links from EveNDon's site. I'm hoping to get all the links from that site added to mine by week's end.

    New Pages:

    Warren County, New Jersey
    - with one link to EveNDon

    Allegany County, New York - with one link to EveNDon

    Onondaga County, New York - with one link to EveNDon

    Schenectady County, New York - with one link to EveNDon

    Tioga County, New York - with one link to EveNDon

    Buncombe County, North Carolina - with four links to EveNDon

    New Hanover County, North Carolina - with one link to EveNDon


    Updates:

    Missouri - two new links from EveNDon

    Montana - one new link to EveNDon

    Nevada - one new link to EveNDon

    Washoe County, Nevada - one new link to EveNDon

    New Jersey - now with 10 counties linked

    Essex County, New Jersey - two new links to EveNDon

    Middlesex County, New Jersey - one new link to EveNDon

    Union County, New Jersey - one new link to EveNDon

    New York - two new links from EveNDon; now with 22 counties and cities linked

    Erie County, New York - one new link to EveNDon

    New York City, New York - seven new links to EveNDon

    North Carolina - with six new links from EveNDon; now with four counties linked

    Wake County, North Carolina - one new link to EveNDon

    Ohio - with two new links from EveNDon; now with 12 counties linked

    Cuyahoga County, Ohio - one new link to EveNDon

    Hamilton County, Ohio - 45 new links to EveNDon!

    Wayne County, Ohio - one new link to EveNDon

    Tuesday, August 4, 2009

    IN, KY, LA, MD, ME, MI, NM, VA New Pages and Updates

    I've added a lot of links from miscellaneous sources for a variety of states.

    New Pages:

    Allen County, Indiana - with five links from EveNDon

    LaPorte County, Indiana - with one link from EveNDon

    Campbell County, Kentucky - with six links from EveNDon

    Kenton County, Kentucky - with six links from EveNDon

    Knox County, Maine - with one link from EveNDon

    City of Baltimore, Maryland - with three links from EveNDon

    Kent County, Michigan - four links from USGenWeb; one each from Google Books, the Making of America, Historic Map Works, and Michigan County Histories; three from the Internet Archive; and 19 from Ancestry

    New Mexico - with one county linked

    Otero County, New Mexico - with one link from EveNDon

    Albemarle County, Virginia - with one link from New River Notes


    Updates:

    Indiana - now with 15 counties linked

    Jay County, Indiana - added one link from EveNDon

    Marion County, Indiana - added 10 links from EveNDon

    Kentucky - now with four counties linked

    Orleans Parish, Louisiana - added one link from EveNDon

    Maine - added one link from EveNDon; now two counties linked

    Cumberland County, Maine
    - added five links from EveNDon

    Maryland
    - added one link from EveNDon; now with two counties and one city linked

    Michigan - now with 15 counties linked

    St. Clair County, Michigan - fixed several broken links; reformatted page, as it was one of the first page on the website and had the old format style - this includes adding the compilers of each of the directories

    Virginia - added four statewide links from New River Notes; now with two counties linked

    Sunday, August 2, 2009

    Lousiana New Pages

    I have added a ton of links for Louisiana to the site. However, most of these are from Ancestry (in fact, I've added every Louisiana directory found at Ancestry to my site). There are a large number of free links from the USGenWeb project for Orleans and Jefferson Parishes; however, they were transcribed as part of a specific research project and many of the transcriptions are for selected surnames only. There are also a large number of New Orleans city directories for the years 1861 - 1923, plus 1985, listed at Footnote, which I have not yet added. As you can see, most of the links to Louisiana directories are found at subscription websites. If you know of any free directories for the state of Louisiana, please let me know!

    Please note if you have African roots from Louisiana that many of these directories state if a person was "colored".

    New Pages:

    Louisiana - with eight parishes linked (this state does not have counties)

    Caddo Parish, Louisiana - with 10 links from Ancestry

    Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana - with nine links from Ancestry

    East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana - with 10 links from Ancestry

    Iberia Parish, Louisiana - with three links from Ancestry

    Jefferson Parish, Louisiana - with two links from USGenWeb

    Lafayette Parish, Louisiana - with three links from Ancestry

    Orleans Parish, Louisiana - with 25 links from Ancestry and 139 from USGenWeb!

    Rapides Parish, Louisiana - with seven links from Ancestry

    Tuesday, July 28, 2009

    Canada and Alaska New Pages and Updates

    I'm so excited to tell you that I have listed every link to all the directories found at Peel's Prairie Provinces and The Recents websites, which cover Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan, with a little bit of Northwest Territories, British Columbia, and Ontario! Oh, yes, and one update for Alaska.

    Thanks to readers Diane Rogers and Marina Crawford for the links to Peel's and The Recents.

    New Pages:

    Lethbridge, Alberta - with 31 links

    Medicine Hat and Redcliff, Alberta
    - with 28 links

    Brandon, Manitoba - with 36 links

    Winnipeg, Manitoba
    - with 15 links

    Northwest Territories
    - with five links

    Updates:

    Alaska - three new links from USGenWeb

    Alberta - total of 13 links; plus links to five cities/regions

    Calgary, Alberta - total of 55 links

    Didsbury Region, Alberta - total of 15 links

    Edmonton, Alberta
    - total of 64 links

    British Columbia - two new links; page is still under construction

    Manitoba - total of 15 links; plus links to two cities

    Ontario - one new link from Peel's Prairie Provinces

    Saskatchewan - total of 19 links

    New Pages and Updates

    I've got a hodgepodge of new pages and updates...a variety of locations and a variety of resources!

    New Pages:

    Calhoun County, Alabama - with one link from BYU Digital Books

    Madison County, Alabama - with one link from USGenWeb

    Marengo County, Alabama - with one link from USGenWeb

    Ireland - with one link from EveNDon

    Wales - with 14 links from Bangor Civic Society

    Wood County, Wisconsin - with three links from EveNDon

    Wyoming - with one county linked

    Sheridan County, Wyoming - with one link from USGenWeb


    Updates:

    Alabama - now with four linked counties

    Jefferson County, Alabama - two links from Google Books

    Alaska - two new links from Historic Map Works

    Calhoun County, Michigan - one new link from Historic Map Works

    United Kingdom - now with two linked countries

    Wisconsin - now with nine linked counties

    Milwaukee County, Wisconsin - one link from EveNDon

    Sunday, July 26, 2009

    More WI New Pages and Updates

    Wisconsin has some amazing collections of online directories! I've been having fun adding them to the site!

    New Pages:

    Rock County, Wisconsin - with 32 links from the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections!


    Updates:

    Winnebago County, Wisconsin - added 33 links from the Oshkosh Public Library, one link from the Winnebago County Jan Digs Project, three links from the Neenah Public Library, and 13 links from the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections. One of these links includes a
    house renumbering calculator for Oshkosh addresses that existed 1908 - 1957.

    There are now eight linked counties on the Wisconsin page. Happy hunting!

    Friday, July 24, 2009

    CA and WI New Pages and Updates

    I've added some California and Wisconsin pages and updated another California page:

    New Pages:

    Calaveras County, California - with one link from the Golden Nugget Library

    Stanislaus County, California - with one link from the Golden Nugget Library

    Tuolumne County, California
    - with one link from the Golden Nugget Library

    Calumet County, Wisconsin - with two links from Calumet and Sheboygan County Page

    Milwaukee County, Wisconsin - with five links from Links to the Past

    Sheboygan County, Wisconsin - with two links from Calumet and Sheboygan County Page

    Updates:

    San Joaquin County, California - added four links from the Golden Nugget Library; there are more coming!

    Thanks to Sheri Fenley and Barbara Bradley Petura for their tips to these great California and Wisconsin directories!

    NY Updates - New York City/Brooklyn

    Yesterday, I updated the New York City page with 11 links to Brooklyn directories from the Brooklyn Genealogy Information Page, 32 links to Long Island community directories from the Longwood Genealogy Group, and one link to a Brooklyn directory from Historic Map Works.

    You will notice that the link to the directory from Historic Map Works is listed as "Free*". This, of course, means that it is free with some stipulations. In order to view directories (and maps) at Historic Map Works, you must register (for free). This will give you 10 free credits allowing you to view 10 directories on the site. After you have used your 10 credits, you may either purchase more in increments of $10.00 each (each credit is worth 10 cents), or by purchasing a monthly subscription of $29.95 or a yearly one of $249.95. More info on rates is available here, and a list of available directories is here.

    Thanks to reader Joy Rich for these links. There are many more to be added to this page in the future!

    Thursday, July 23, 2009

    CO New Page - Larmier County

    I have added Larimer County to the list of Colorado counties linked, for a total of 12 Colorado counties now online! Please remember that these county pages are not complete, and there will be many more links added to these pages from various websites, as well as many more counties added, as time permits.

    The Larmier County page has 79 links to directories covering 1902 to 2002! These are all from the Fort Collins History Connection website. It took me about three days to get this page all set up and linked. Why so long? Every time I find a directory resource, I do try to go and visit every directory's link and find the publisher, verify the year, and see if the directory covers more than just the location listed in its title. Sometimes this takes quite a bit of time, because the title page will be quite a ways into the directory and I have to browse page by page until I find it. Sometimes, it just doesn't exist because the directory is old and the first few pages are missing, or the institution or individual who scanned or transcribed the directory didn't bother to scan or transcribe the publishing info.

    Thanks to Joe Beine for telling me about the directories listed in the Fort Collins History Connection. Joe has a site full of wonderful links himself; please visit it here.

    Wednesday, July 22, 2009

    TX New Pages

    Thanks to reader Vickie Everhart, I was able to find two websites full of Texas city and county directories, and was thus able to add 13 counties to my Texas page, for a total of 15 linked counties!

    New Pages:

    Bexar County, Texas - with one link from David Gray's People Finder

    Cooke County, Texas - with one link from David Gray's People Finder

    Dallas County, Texas - with 10 links from Dallas County Texas Archives and two from David Gray's People Finder

    Galveston County, Texas - with two links from David Gray's People Finder

    Grayson County, Texas - with one link from David Gray's People Finder

    Harris County, Texas - with two links from David Gray's People Finder

    Lamar County, Texas - with one link from David Gray's People Finder

    McLennan County, Texas - with one link from David Gray's People Finder

    Navarro County, Texas - with one link from David Gray's People Finder

    Parker County, Texas - with one link from David Gray's People Finder

    Robertson County, Texas - with one link from David Gray's People Finder

    Tarrant County, Texas
    - with two links from David Gray's People Finder

    Travis County, Texas - with two links from David Gray's People Finder


    Updates:

    El Paso County, Texas - one link from David Gray's People Finder