New Pages and Updates - Part 3

It's been a year since I've posted updates. I have done a lot of work this past year, but realized that I had not notified my readers via this blog about them. Two most notable changes: the Eve N Don directory site not only changed its name to Don's List after his wife Eve passed away, it also changed its URL (web address). It took quite a bit of time for me to make the appropriate changes to this site. The second change was when the BYU Digital Books site changed to FamilySearch Books. I'm not done changing all those links. Meantime, you can check them out at FamilySearch Books and do a search for "directory." Additionally, the site Old Directory Search is now offline. I've started to remove some of the dead links, but again, have not gotten to all of them.

Updates

Canada - updated one link from BYU Digital Books to FamilySearch Books; updated one link from Eve N Don to Don's List

Calgary, Alberta - repaired link for 1912 directory from Peel's Prairie Provinces

British Columbia - updated one link from Eve N Don to Don's List

Greater Vancouver Regional District, British Columbia - updated one link from Eve N Don to Don's List

Elgin County, Ontario - updated four links from Eve N Don to Don's List

Essex County, Ontario - updated three links from Eve N Don to Don's List

Lambton County, Ontario - updated one link from Eve N Don to Don's List

Regional Municipality of Niagara, Ontario - updated two links from Eve N Don to Don's List

City of Ottawa, Ontario - updated three links from Eve N Don to Don's List

Oxford County, Ontario - updated two links from Eve N Don to Don's List

City of Toronto, Ontario - updated one link from Eve N Don to Don's List

Québec - updated one link from BYU Digital Books to FamilySearch Books

United Kingdom - updated one link from Eve N Don to Don's List

England - updated one link from Eve N Don to Don's List

City of London, England - updated one link from Eve N Don to Don's List

County Cork, Ireland - updated one link from Eve N Don to Don's List

Familyrelatives.com Releases 1,000,000 New UK Post Office & Trade Directories

Here's a press release from FamilyRelatives.com, which was originally published November 12:

Familyrelatives.com today announced the release of over 1 million Post Office records. The exciting new collection is set to grow over the coming months and will prove to be an extremely valuable resource and complement the existing Trade Directories, allowing them to be used side by side. The Post Office collection is, in effect, a Victorian version of today's Yellow Pages covering over 25 counties and major cities of Great Britain spanning nearly a century during Britain’s most prosperous years.

The records hold interesting information of not only ordinary families but also well known past and present companies and high street brands such as Lyons, Marks and Spencer’s and Woolworths, listed as “Toy and Fancy Dealers”.

There are a number of famous names that stand out - residences include Charles Dickens residing at Gads Hill House in Higham, Kent as well as Charles Darwin who was famous for his theories of evolution and wrote The Origin of Species, he is listed as living in Down, Kent as a Private Resident.

The Postal and Commercial Alphabetical Directory, referred to as Kelly’s, contains information organised by County. The early editions, “will be found superior both in quality and extent of information to the Edition previously issued.” The beginnings of these Directories can be attributed to Frederic Kelly when he was appointed “His Majesty’s Inspector of Inland Letter Carriers” at the turn of the 19th century. Kelly established his company and expanded on the original publications and produced directories for a number of UK cities and several other titles.

The earliest directories were published in London where demand for commercial information was greater, followed by other major cities in the United Kingdom. Using Kelly’s association with the Post Office to considerable advantage, he was partnered by Isaac Slater and taking over James Pigot’s in 1853, his market dominance was established so becoming the largest directory publisher in the late nineteenth century.

It is not surprising that these guides were used over 170 years ago by travelling salesmen as reference guides when looking for new trade and opportunities, in effect these Directories were the predecessor to the telephone directory and the Yellow pages.

The format of the publications is split into sections which provides a topographical description of settlements and cities as well as landmarks together with statistical information on the population. Generally alphabetical lists of the Clergy, Gentry, commercial occupations, streets, classified trades and advertisements are published. Many of the later Directories include private residents. An example of the sort of information a Post Office provides is shown below - which includes a fascinating combination of trades including a farmer, a farrier, a boot and shoe man, a beer retailer, and a number of shopkeepers.

Robert Woods a spokesman for Familyrelatives.com said “We are very pleased by the progress our digital archive department is making and we will continue to add further cities and counties covering a larger part of the UK allowing researchers the opportunity to learn what their ancestors were doing over the past 170 years”.

The collection is part of over 700 million historic records available online to all members and visitors by way of an annual subscription of only £30.00 or US$50.00 at www.familyrelatives.com 

Familyrelatives.com has added the following new records

Post Office Records
Postal and Commercial Directory of Wiltshire
Aberdeen Post Office Directory 1862-63
List of Officers of the General Post Officers London Edinburgh Dublin 1892
Post Office Annual Directory Glasgow 1838-1839
Post Office Bath Directory 1920
Post Office Bath Directory 1926
Post Office Bath Directory 1938
Post Office Directory of Bedfordshire 1869
Post Office Directory of Berkshire 1869
Post Office Directory of Buckinghamshire 1869
Post Office Directory of Cambridge 1879
Post Office Directory of Derbyshire 1855
Post Office Directory of Derbyshire 1864
Post Office Directory of Dublin 1888
Post Office Directory of Essex 1859
Post Office Directory of Hertfordshire 1859
Post Office Directory of Kent 1859
Post Office Directory of Middlesex 1859
Post Office Directory of Norfolk 1879
Post Office Directory of Northamptonshire 1869
Post Office Directory of Nottinghamshire 1855
Post Office Directory of Oxfordshire 1869
Post Office Directory of Staffordshire 1864
Post Office Directory of Surrey 1859
Postal and Commercial Directory of Norfolk and Norwich 1868 

For further information visit http://www.familyrelatives.com

ENG, SCT, CT, FL, IN, IA, MD, MA, MI, MN, NY, NC, SC, WA, and WI New Pages and Updates

In the past month, the following new pages and updates have been added:

New Pages

Stirling Council Area, Scotland - with four links from SCRAN

Litchfield County, Connecticut - with one link from NEHGS

Orange County, Florida - with one link from Central Florida Memory

Elkhart County, Indiana - with one link from the Internet Archive

Washington County, Maryland - with one link from Maryland Digital Cultural Heritage and two from Western Maryland's Historical Library

Barnstable County, Massachusetts - with two links from Historic Map Works

Ontonagon County, Michigan - with two links from MattsonWorks

Clay County, Minnesota - with five links from the Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County

Dakota County, Minnesota - with one link from the Dakota County Historical Society

Pennington County, Minnesota - with 14 links from the Pennington County Historical Society

Cattaraugus County, New York - with one link from the Monroe County Library

Chemung County, New York - with one link from the Monroe County Library

Genesee County, New York - with five links from the Monroe County Library

Livingston County, New York - with three links from the Monroe County Library

Niagara County, New York - with one link from the Monroe County Library

Orleans County, New York - with three links from the Monroe County Library

Schuyler County, New York - with one link from the Monroe County Library

Seneca County, New York - with one link from the Monroe County Library

Steuben County, New York - with one link from the Monroe County Library

Wyoming County, New York - with one link from the Monroe County Library

Yates County, New York - with one link from the Monroe County Library

Spartanburg County, South Carolina - with nine links from the Internet Archive

Iron County, Wisconsin - with 34 links from MattsonWorks and two links from Ancestry

Sawyer County, Wisconsin - with two links from MattsonWorks

Vilas County, Wisconsin - with eight links from MattsonWorks


Updates

Yorkshire, England - one new link from the Internet Archive

Connecticut - one new link from Historic Maps Works; now with five out of 8 counties linked

Hartford County, Connecticut - two new links from Historic Map Works and four new links from Distant Cousin

New Haven County, Connecticut - one new link from Historic Map Works

New London County, Connecticut - one new link from Historic Map Works

Florida - now with three out of 67 counties linked

Indiana - now with 25 out of 92 counties linked

Allen County, Indiana - one new link from the Internet Archive

Vanderburgh County, Indiana - one new link from the Internet Archive

Wells County, Indiana - one new link from the Internet Archive

Polk County, Iowa - one new link from Iowa Digital Library

Maryland - now with four out of 23 counties plus the City of Baltimore linked

Allegany County, Maryland - one new link from Maryland Digital Cultural Heritage and one from Western Maryland's Historical Library

City of Baltimore, Maryland - 35 new links from the Archives of Maryland Online

Massachusetts - now with 11 out of 14 counties linked

Barnstable County, Massachusetts - one new link from Historic Map Works

Essex County, Massachusetts - nine new links from Memorial Hall Library

Middlesex County, Massachusetts - one new link from the Center for Lowell History

Suffolk County, Massachusetts - eight new links from Tufts Digital Collections & Archives and two new links from EveNDon

Michigan - now with 23 out of 83 counties linked

Gogebic County, Michigan - six new links from MattsonWorks

Saginaw County, Michigan - three new links from Google Books, seven new links from the Hathi Trust Digital Library, and two new links from the Internet Archive

Minnesota - now with six out of 87 counties linked

Hennepin County, Minnesota - one new link from Phillips Neighborhood Network and two new links from KinSource Archives

Ramsey County, Minnesota - one new link from KinSource Archives

New York - one new link from the Monroe County Library; now with 40 out of 62 counties plus New York City linked

Allegany County, New York - one new link from the Monroe County Library

Cayuga County, New York - one new link from the Monroe County Library

Chautauqua County, New York - one new link from the Monroe County Library

Erie County, New York - one new link from the Monroe County Library

Monroe County, New York - corrected numerous links due to the Monroe County Library changing some of their webpages; added 55 new links from the Monroe County Library

Onondaga County, New York - one new link from the Monroe County Library

Ontario County, New York - four new links from the Monroe County Library

Wayne County, New York - three new links from the Monroe County Library

Wake County, North Carolina - one new link from Wake County Public Libraries

South Carolina - now with three out of 46 counties linked

King County, Washington - one new link from the University of Washington

Wisconsin - now with 16 out of 72 counties linked

ENG, IN, IA, NC, TX, WI New Pages and Updates

New Pages:

Middlesex, England - with one link from London Lives

Wells County, Indiana - with one link from the Internet Archive

Benton County, Iowa -  with one link from the Marion Public Library

Black Hawk County, Iowa - with one link from the Marion Public Library

Buchanan County, Iowa - with one link from the Marion Public Library

Johnson County, Iowa - with one link from the Marion Public Library

Linn County, Iowa - with 20 links from the Marion Public Library

Marshall County, Iowa - with one link from the Marion Public Library

Tama County, Iowa - with one link from the Marion Public Library

Durham County, North Carolina - with one link from the Internet Archive

Randolph County, North Carolina - with one link from the Internet Archive

La Crosse County, Wisconsin - with 29 links from the La Crosse Public Library


Updates:

England - now with 7 out of 39 historical counties linked, plus the City of London

City of London, England - one new link from London Lives

Indiana - now with 24 out of 92 counties linked

Iowa - now with 14 out of 99 counties linked

North Carolina - now with 7 out of 100 counties linked

Travis County, Texas - one new link from the Austin Genealogical Society

Wisconsin - now with 13 out of 72 counties linked

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).

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

Updates and New Pages for the Week of June 7 - 13, 2009

Updates:

British Columbia - eight new links from Our Roots

St. Clair County, Illinois - one link from Ancestry

Essex County, Massachusetts - three links, one each from InternetArchive, DistantCousin and Eve and Don

Articles - added five links to articles about researching city directories. The one by Kory Meyerlink is especially helpful and detailed, in my opinion.

New Pages:

United Kingdom

England* - with four links

Bristol County, Massachusetts - with three links

Hampden County, Massachusetts - with one link

Hampshire County, Massachusetts - with one link

Middlesex County, Massachusetts - with two links

Norfolk County, Massachusetts - with four links

Plymouth County, Massachusetts - with two links

Suffolk County, Massachusetts - with twelve links (Boston is in Suffolk County)

Arizona - with one link

Maricopa County, Arizona - with four links

Pima County, Arizona - with two links

*I haven't decided yet if I will break up the four countries of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, North Ireland and Wales) into county pages. For the time being, I will leave it. If I find too many links to keep the pages neat, organized and unconfusing, I will further categorize them by county.

I've also begun adding county pages for all the United States. These county pages are not "live" and do not have links on them. However, it will make it easier for me when I come across resources; I'll be able to put the links on the already-created county pages and then make them live. Creating pages is one of the more time-consuming details of my webmaster tasks, and although this behind-the-scenes activity isn't readily obvious to my readers, it will eventually speed along the process of getting data on the website.

Thank you to all who continue to send me links. My list is ever-growing! Also thanks to you all who are being patient with me while I correct and update pages that I first created weeks ago in the old format.

Happy Hunting!