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