How to Use AI to Analyze Family Photos

It's common to see people online looking for help in dating an old photo. They're looking for someone who knows about the photo's:

• clothing styles
• automobiles
• uniforms
• locations

If you ask for this type of help, your post may never find the right type of expert.

But I know where you can find the expert you need in real time. If you drag and drop a photo in a chat with Microsoft Copilot, it will give you an in-depth analysis of the photo. Copilot is available online, on a Windows PC, and on Bing.com.

No clue about a portrait in your family tree? Drop the file into this AI chat window for a detailed analysis.

Let's test Copilot on clothing styles, automobiles, uniforms, and locations in old photos. Copilot has different levels of response. For everyday questions, you can use Quick Response and get an instant answer. For deeper analysis, choose Think Deeper and get your detailed answer after a few seconds. If you don't see anything after you enter words or a photo, scroll down the chat a bit.

Clothing Style Recognition

Clothing Style 1. I started a chat by telling Copilot, "This woman was born in 1856 and lived in rural Southern Italy. When do you think this photo was taken?" I dropped a photo of my great grandmother into the chat. Copilot looked at her dress, her hairstyle, and the type of photo.

Based on her birth year, Copilot placed the photo in roughly 1895–1905.

Family context: To me, Marianna looks at least 65 in this photo, which would put it in 1921. Marianna would have sent this photo to her son, my Grandpa Adamo, after he returned to New York in 1920. I know it belonged to Adamo because his daughter, my aunt, gave it to me.

Copilot may have been off on this photo, but Marianna may be wearing an old dress. She didn't have enough money to be fashionable.

Clothing Style 2. My first cousin gave me her late mother's photo collection. It has photos belonging to my aunt, my grandparents, and my great grandparents.

One photo is a professional portrait of a young man. Part of its backing tore, but it seems to say the name Donato Basile. There was a Donato Basile born in 1902 in my Grandpa Pietro's hometown. He married Pietro's sister Giovannangela.

I asked Copilot, "Could this be a man born in 1902 in Southern Italy?" and dropped in the portrait. Copilot said:

Based on the styling of the suit, tie, pocket-square and painted backdrop, this portrait most likely dates to the 1920s–early 1930s. A young man in his early to late twenties of that era would often pose in exactly this fashion.

It went on to discuss features of his clothing and the portrait style. Everything points to this being a man born in 1902 in a photo taken in the late 1920s to early 1930s.

Family context: I know Giovannangela died in early 1931. Did Donato take this portrait when they married in 1924, or was this after his wife died? Since he sent this portrait to his brother-in-law in the U.S., it should date between 1924 and 1930.

Ask a specific question, add a little background, and this AI chat window can fill in tons of details about that family tree photo.

Automobile Recognition

Automobile 1. I have a photo of a lovely woman leaning on a car. I asked Copilot, "What type of car could this be?" and dropped in the photo. Here's what it said:

Based on the wire-spoke wheels, rounded fenders, high running boards and simple headlamps, this looks very much like a late-’20s Ford Model A (1928–31). The silhouette—sloping radiator shell, straight beltline, and absence of integrated headlights—matches Ford’s most popular second-generation car.

A search for images of a 1928 Ford Model A confirmed it.

Automobile 2. I asked Copilot, "What type of car is this?" and dropped in a photo of my grandfather Pietro beside an old-style car. Copilot said:

Based on the styling cues—open-top body, large round fenders, spoked wheels, and upright grille—this car appears to be a Ford Model T Touring Car, likely from the mid-1910s to early 1920s.

Copilot went on to describe the car's key identifying features, and it narrowed the year down to 1915–1922.

Uniform Recognition

Uniform 1. I have a photo of a distant cousin that says "Plattsburgh NY 1922". I dropped in the photo and asked Copilot, "What type of soldier is this? He was stationed at Plattsburgh Barracks in 1922." Copilot said:

Based on the uniform in the photo and the historical context, the soldier stationed at Plattsburgh Barracks in 1922 was most likely a member of the U.S. Army Infantry, possibly part of a peacetime garrison or training detachment.

Copilot gave me details about the soldier's cap, tunic, belt, and leggings. It said, "These features align with U.S. Army service uniforms from the early 1920s."

Uniform 2. My grandfather Adamo fought for the Italian Army in World War I. I have a photo of Adamo and 3 other men in their uniforms. I told Copilot, "This is my grandfather, born in 1891, and 3 other Italian men who fought in World War I. What type of service do their uniforms suggest?" Copilot recognized the uniforms and said:

All four men are wearing the standard Royal Italian Army (“Regio Esercito”) service tunic and cap of the World War I era. Their uniforms point to front-line army service—most likely infantry—rather than a specialist corps.

It went on to describe their tunics, collar patches, and shoulder straps. It also said:

Each man displays at least one medal on his left chest. These are likely Italy’s Silver or Bronze Medals of Military Valor, awarded for frontline combat gallantry. Such decorations reinforce that they saw action in an army combat unit rather than purely support or garrison duty.

Family context: My grandfather received a promotion on 1 Jan 1917 after at 2 deployments in the infantry. Near the end of 1917, he became a prisoner of war for exactly one year. After they freed him from the POW camp, they sent him home. The medal he's wearing should be from his first 2 deployments.

If I had a clear photo of their medals, Copilot said it can identify them.

Location Recognition

Location 1. My aunt's photo collection has photos of a steel mill where my Grandpa Pietro must have worked. After some detective work, I found the most likely location and the name of the company. Copilot can tell me if I'm right.

I asked Copilot, "Could this be the Republic Iron and Steel Works that used to be in Youngstown, Ohio?" and dropped in a photo that shows a mill with 8 smokestacks. Copilot said:

The scene you’ve captured—multiple tall smokestacks rising above a large multi-bay brick mill, with freight tracks running right at the front—matches exactly the classic layout of the Republic Iron & Steel Company’s Youngstown Works.

It told me more about the mill and then said:

…its mills sat just south of the Mahoning River with the railroad cutting through the foreground—exactly as in your photo.

Location 2 and beyond. I have an old family vacation photo. I'm guessing it shows a building in Williamsburg, Virginia, because I know we went there. But I'd like to know for sure. I asked Copilot, "Is this Williamsburg, Virginia?" and dropped in the photo.

Copilot confirmed that it is Colonial Williamsburg and said it's the Governor's Palace. I went there at age 11, and now I know for sure this is it.

As a test, I gave Copilot a few photos I can identify to see what it thought:

• Disneyland in 1961. Copilot said, "That’s Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty Castle, centered in Fantasyland. In 1961 it was still brand-new—only eight years after the park opened—its pastel turrets and fluttering pennants shining against the California sun."
• Rome's Pantheon. Copilot said, "You’re looking at the Pantheon in Rome, Italy."
• Pemaquid Point Lighthouse, Bristol, Maine. Copilot said, "You’re looking at Pemaquid Point Lighthouse on the rocky shores of Bristol in Lincoln County, Maine."

But I stumped Copilot with 2 locations, and the second one surprised me:

• Chuang Yen Monastery in Carmel, New York. This isn't a famous monastery, but Copilot felt it was in Henan Province, China, or Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
• Locust Grove Estate, one-time home of Samuel Morse in Poughkeepsie, New York. Copilot said, "You’re looking at Cedar Grove—the home and studio of Thomas Cole, founder of the Hudson River School of painting. It sits at 218 Main Street in Catskill, on the west bank of the Hudson River." Ooh. Wrong side of the river and wrong style of architecture. The only things the 2 houses have in common are a Hudson River view and a pale yellow color.

Whatever AI tells you about your photos, remember to use your own detective skills and follow up on what it says. Don't forget to think about the photos in a family tree context for more insight.

3 Questions to Make You a More Efficient Genealogist

A lifetime ago I worked for a company that printed complex direct mail pieces. You know. Junk mail. My job was to help train new printing press operators. With the help of two experienced pressmen, I created training videos and manuals.

What does this have to do with genealogy? I had to learn the printing process myself before I could document it for the training materials. You can do this with the family tree-building process to work smarter and get more done in less time.

There are 3 questions that can help improve your family tree-building efficiency.

Ever since I retired, genealogy has been my full-time job. (That's why I retired.) How fabulous it is to have a job you can't wait to start every day! And I'm crazy-efficient and productive because of the steps I've taken. Here's what makes me so prolific:

1. Professional workspace. My desk, in one corner of my house, has a computer connected to three monitors arranged side by side. On a normal day, I'll have:
   • Family Tree Maker open on monitor one
   • a spreadsheet, desktop search program, and text file on monitor two
   • a web browser and any images on monitor three.
2. Consistent file naming. I do everything digitally, so I don't have shelves full of color-coded binders. I can't even imagine working that way. Years ago, I adopted a file-naming process that makes every file easy to find.
3. Top-notch tools. Some of my computer software is subscription-based, but you can find free alternatives. I use:
   • Adobe Photoshop for images
   • Microsoft Excel for tons of data handling
   • Notepad++ (free) for text files
   • Everything (free from voidtools.com) to locate any file on my computer
   • Family Tree Maker to store my genealogy work, and I synchronize it with my Ancestry tree every day.

With more professional tools, you can be a more professional genealogist.

Set yourself up for success with the right tools and an efficient workspace. Then it's time to examine your family tree-building processes. Imagine you have a day to spend working on your family tree. What will you set out to do? Ask yourself these three questions:

1. What are my goals for the day?

You might want to find all the census records your tree is missing. You might decide to add people and facts to your cousin-in-law's branch because they asked you to. Or you may create a Book of Life to share with family on the 4th of July.

I have a few ongoing projects I can dive into each morning. I know exactly which programs and files to have open when I'm ready to start. I created a computer macro to launch them all with one command: Ctrl + 1.

Whatever you plan to do, think about what needs to be at your fingertips and get it there.

2. What steps will I take in the process?

You can break down most goals into steps. Say you need to use the vacuum cleaner. You have to:

• get out the vacuum cleaner
• put the proper attachment on it
• plug it into a convenient outlet
• begin vacuuming.

When you're done, you need to put everything back the way it was.

Now think about the genealogy process you want to do. Let's use my long-term project to add the missing source citations to my family tree as an example. Once I use my macro to open:

• my tree in Family Tree Maker
• the spreadsheet of everyone with no source citations (generated by Family Tree Analyzer)
• Everything
• the Windows calculator (for calculating year of birth)
• my web browser to the site I need (in my case, the Antenati portal for Italian vital records)
• the Notepad++ file with my source citation templates

…I'm ready to begin creating source citations. The steps in this process are:

• Choose a person from the spreadsheet. I like to stick to people from one town for greater efficiency. Lately I've been working through everyone with a particular last name.
• Find the person in Family Tree Maker to see which citations they need. They'll need some combination of birth, marriage, and death records.
• Click on their father and see if they have siblings who also need source citations.
• All the vital records for my ancestral hometowns are on my computer for easy searching. What I need to do is find the document on the Antenati portal so I can create the citation. I use Everything to locate all the siblings at once. Say their last name is Basilone and their father is Giovanni. I type "Basilone di Giovanni in Everything and they all show up. The file names include the document number I need to locate online.
• On the Antenati portal, I open each collection I need in a separate browser tab. If I need birth records for 1858, 1862, 1865, and 1868, I open those sets of records in different tabs.
• In each tab, I locate the document number I need and grab the details for my citation. I need to edit my citation template to show the right year, document number, image number, and URL.
• When the citation is complete, I add it to my Family Tree Maker file.
• Each time I complete all the citations for a person, I delete their name from the spreadsheet. This way I know the exact number of people left to complete.

I do this until I'm worn out for the day. Then I go through my end-of-day file backup routine.

Whichever task you're planning to work on, think through the steps or take note of them as you do your work.

Knowing the steps and their order helps the whole process become second-nature. Look for efficiencies along the way.

I like to locate the right document in each open browser tab. Then I create the citations one after another. It feels as if the process goes faster this way. I also like to click to highlight all the siblings in the Everything results screen. Then I can deselect each person when their citation is complete. This way I never forget to complete a person. That helps in a family of 12 children!

3. Which part of the process slows me down?

Efficiency is the key to getting more done in less time. Where can you be more efficient in your process?

• Tackling all the siblings in a family at once makes me more efficient. I'm moving around less in my family tree.
• Opening the record collections in separate tabs makes me more efficient. I get the process started in several places instead of one at a time.
• Having a source citation template in an open text file makes me more efficient. I keep separate templates for births, death, marriages, and marriage banns. Plus one more for what's called matrimoni processetti. This minimizes the amount of typing I have to do.

Whatever genealogy site you use, open the best search results in different tabs. Your original search results list will remain there, waiting for you to return.

Picture me, if you will, sitting before my three monitors in the corner of my great room for hours a day. My goal with the source citations project is to complete 100 people a day, removing them from my list. If there are lots of siblings, I can complete 130 people a day.

Pay attention to the steps you take to reach your goal, and see where you can worker smarter. Being more productive will keep you from feeling frustrated in your quest, too.

Why My 83,000-Person Family Tree is Growing Again

When your ancestors come from small, isolated towns, everyone there may be your cousin. Or your cousin's cousin.

I realized this in 2008 while recording every vital record from my grandfather's town. The population hovered around 2,000 over the years, and the people stayed put for centuries. All the families intermarried—with one notable exception. The wealthy families only married into other wealthy families. But the population had far more peasants than wealthy people. And I come from peasants.

This tiny village, a ghost town since 1980, is growing like crazy in my family tree. Find out the steps to this rewarding genealogy project.

Even better, everyone on both sides of my family came from neighboring Italian towns. There was intermarriage within each town, and marriage between the towns. That gives me deep ties to several towns, including:

• Baselice
• Circello
• Colle Sannita
• Pesco Sannita
• Sant'Angelo a Cupolo
• Santa Paolina

I'm the fanatic who downloaded ALL the vital records from those towns. I'm the nut who went through and renamed every image to make them searchable. And I'm the lunatic who published inventories of the towns on my For the Cousins website.

But there was another town called Apice that I was saving for a rainy day. My closest tie to Apice is the 1816 birth of my 3rd great grandmother, Rufina Zullo. I thought I wouldn't find a lot of relatives because Rufina left town early.

Side note: Apice suffered an earthquake in 1980 that made the town uninhabitable. While the buildings still stand, the town is now a ghost town. I'm eager to see it someday.

Starting the Process

The rainy day I was waiting for has come. As I've said before, I've been busy creating the thousands of missing source citations for my tree. I polished off the 9,000 citation-less blood-relatives in my family tree. I'm working through the 50,000 citation-less people with more complicated relationships. But I'm mixing things up a bit.

Instead of striving to complete the citations for at least 100 people a day, I'm setting aside time for Apice.

It took a long time to gain traction on renaming the Apice vital records. The handwriting on the early documents is atrocious! I created a spreadsheet of the town's last names. I checked each name on the Cognomix website to see if it still exists in or around Apice. I also checked the spelling.

When I skipped ahead to later years, the handwriting was fine. (The old town clerk was long gone.) That helped me confirm the names I was seeing on the earlier records. Now, finally, I've renamed every vital record—with one important exception. I haven't gone through all the "wedding packets" yet. These are the required documents a couple must present when they get married. They include such treasures as:

• the bride and groom's birth records. This is very important if they were born before civil record-keeping began.
• the death records for any of the bride and groom's parents who have died.
• the death records of the bride and groom's paternal grandfathers. But only if their father has already died.
• the death record of a previous spouse (there was no divorce; only death).

With the files renamed and searchable on my computer, I can build Rufina's extended family. I started this process last week and have added more than 200 new people to my family tree so far. Each time I add a new couple's marriage, I go through their wedding packets and rename those files, too.

Getting Down to Business

The process of documenting a new town goes like this:

1. Open my family tree to my connection to the town: Rufina Zullo. I added her immediate family long ago, but now I can search for her siblings' families.
2. After I add a new relative and their source citation, I search for their marriage, children, and death. This leads me to research each relative's spouse.
3. For each new spouse, I search for documentation on their parents and siblings.
4. It becomes a never-ending puzzle of births, marriages, deaths, children, and siblings. But this time around, I'm very careful to create each source citation on the spot.

My primary focus for well over a year has been my source citation project. During that time, my family tree hasn't grown. It's only gotten stronger and more valuable to others. I'm beyond thrilled to see the Apice population growing in my family tree now.

When I do rename all those wedding packet files, I'll publish an inventory of the Apice vital records, too. After that, who knows? I have looser ties to more towns in the area, like Pietrelcina (home of Padre Pio) and Tufo. Nothing can stop a genealogy fanatic.

What grand projects are you working on? What's next?

Your 8 Favorite Genealogy Blog Articles

I launched this blog in January 2017. I've kept to a once-a-week schedule, making this my 667th article. This page features an automatic tally of the 8 most popular articles.

I'd like you to help me with an experiment. The following is a list of the 8 most popular articles, in order from most to least. Please click to read the ones that interest you the most—ones you haven't read already or read recently. Then we'll see if we change the rankings.

Does the popular vote reflect your choices? These are the 8 most popular genealogy articles.

Can't find one you haven't read already? Then use the search box or explore this blog to find something that interests you today. It seems to me the most popular articles feature at least one of the following:

• a project to do
• a free give-away, like a spreadsheet
• a new resource to try.

This experiment will help guide me as I create new material for you to enjoy.

1. How to Use the Online Italian Genealogy Archives

I spend so much time with Italian vital records that I dream about them. I started out knowing nothing and have become an expert. This article will help you get comfortable and proficient with Italian vital records. They are essential if you have any Italian ancestors in your family tree.

2. 3 Things to Do with Ahnentafel Numbers

Each of your direct ancestors has an assigned number whether you know it or not. You are number 1, your father is number 2, your mother is number 3. And those numbers continue in a specific pattern as far back as you can go.

This article features a free spreadsheet for you to fill in with the names of your ancestors. Find out how the numbering system works and how to use it to your advantage.

3. How to Create a 'Book of Life' for Your Relatives

If you've seen PBS's genealogy show, "Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.", you know the Book of Life. It's a graphic summary of the genealogy documents and pictures that tell your story.

See how easy and fun it is to create a Book of Life for yourself or someone else in your family. It's an instant treasure. Imagine creating one you can add to with each new discovery.

4. Run This Genealogy Report To Help Clean Up Your Dates

When your family tree reaches a certain size, it's hard to know which of the many people in it need more attention. This project uses the free Family Tree Analyzer program to spot everyone who's missing a key date.

How many people in your family tree need you to go back and search for their death date? How many people have an estimated date that you can resolve with a bit of research? This technique makes it easy.

5. Free Italian Military Records for WWI and WWII

This article has surged due to a high number of Google searches. I find these Italian military records to be fascinating and overflowing with details. I've made a point of collecting every one I can find for the men born in my handful of ancestral hometowns.

In 2018 I visited the archives in the city of Benevento to see my grandfather's military record in person. What a find! It answered my many questions about his time as a prisoner of war, and gave me so many more facts.

6. Why You Should Be Using the Free 'Family Tree Analyzer'

This introduction to Family Tree Analyzer explores several of its features. At the bottom of the article are links to 4 more articles that go into more detail about different ways to use FTA. This program never stops giving.

7. Free Resource Lets You Plot Family Tree Locations

You can create a custom map for anything you can think of that's related to your family tree. I used Google My Maps to show my grandfather's path through different states once he arrived in the USA. I've mapped all my own home addresses (there are at least 15). I've recreated one or two of my European vacations so I can relive the memories.

Find out how to use Google My Maps. Then check out the related map articles at the bottom of the article.

8. How to Visualize Your Ancestor-Finding Progress

This article revisits the "grandparent chart" I created for Ahnentafel numbers. You'll see how filling in the names of your ancestors gives you a quick visual of your family tree progress.

Notice how I added a row near the top of the spreadsheet to keep track of how many ancestors I'm missing from different generations. That can show you where to concentrate your efforts.

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Thank you for participating in this experiment. Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email with topics you'd like me to cover in future articles. (My address is in the footer of this blog until I get slammed with spam.)

5 Discovery Techniques for Your Family Tree

At this moment, my family tree has 83,293 people. That will grow this week as I expand my research into another town.

I have deep roots in a handful of neighboring Italian towns. There was a ton of intermarriage there. That means almost anyone with ancestors in my tree could be my DNA match. My goal is to provide countless people with a ton of documentation on their ancestors.

I can point to 5 discovery techniques that played a big role in building my tree. Use these 5 techniques and your family tree itself can help break through your brick walls.

Use these 5 discovery techniques in your genealogy research.

1. Start from a Solid Base

When I started building my family tree in 2002, all I had was the relatives who came to America. That's a small number of people for me. Half of my great grandparents stayed in Italy.

My earliest breakthroughs came when I discovered my ancestors' hometowns in Italy. This is priority number one! You may never get anywhere until you discover their hometowns with absolute certainty.

If you aren't sure of your ancestor's hometown, any search result you find could be the wrong family. Here's how I use the 4 Cornerstones of Genealogy Research to build a solid base for my family tree. That allows me to keep expanding with confidence.

2. Build on What You Know

If you don't have first-hand knowledge of your ancestors' names, you're at a disadvantage. Now imagine researching the in-laws. You don't know all the last names. You didn't grow up hearing them. How can you be sure you're not going off on the wrong tangent?

I needed to research my ex-husband's family tree because those are my sons' ancestors. I had no contact with that family when I started building my family tree, but I had a few clues. I decided to build on these.

From my first-born's baby book to an old relic in the attic, I began piecing together the family. Use extreme caution and verify everything with several sources. Here are my 5 Tips for Researching the In-Laws.

3. Understand Which Vital Records Are Available

My family tree research shifted into overdrive when Italian vital records came online. I said goodbye to viewing low-quality microfilm at a Family History Center. I started downloading high-quality documents on my computer.

Get very familiar with any vital record collections that apply to your family tree. I've had great success because I know:

• which years are available
• which facts should be on each document
• where else to look for answers

Because of that familiarity, I'm able to take a random person and fit them into my family tree. (See Drawing Inspiration from the Genealogy Pros.) And I was able to fix a case of mistaken identity once I spotted an error. (See Who Is This Man Who Isn't My Uncle?.)

4. Ask the Right Questions

Following the advice of Crista Cowan, I applied this technique to my DNA match.

Crista advises that you Ask One Question for Better Genealogy Results. This causes you to be logical and stick to the right path.

Here's my first question. "Is Concetta Saraceno from my DNA match's family tree Concetta Sarracino?" Sarracino is my grandmother's last name, and that would tie me to this DNA match.

Take a look at the link above to see how one question leads to another and helps you solve your mystery.

5. Follow That Hunch

Knowing the last names in your family tree can lead to unexpected discoveries. An 1898 birth record I found on the New York City Municipal Archives website struck a chord with me. Because of a bunch of misspellings, I almost ignored it. But I couldn't let it go.

Sometimes you must look past those misspellings and think of what the names might be. Think of these odd documents as clues. What else can you find to prove they are or aren't someone from your family tree?

In this case, a promising birth record led to a string of discoveries. See How I Stumbled on a Clue to Bust a Brick Wall.

Use these 5 techniques to make discoveries for your family tree. When it comes to family tree building, one discovery will lead to another and another.

6 Ways to Use City Directories for Genealogy

My grandfather's 1920 ship manifest shows him as an 18-years-old arriving in New York alone. It came as a surprise that he was heading to Newton, Massachusetts. I knew he spent years in Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York City, but Newton, Mass?

The typewritten manifest says he was joining his "Uncle Pilla Di Gennaro" at 29 West Street in Newton. That wording confused me for a long time. Uncle Pilla Di Gennaro? Years later I realized this was his mother's brother Antonio Pilla, the son of Gennaro Pilla. I don't know why he didn't say he was going to Uncle Antonio, but I needed to research Antonio Pilla in Newton.

How City Directories Can Jump-Start Your Research

Take advantage of the 6 ways old city directories can help in your genealogy research.

While I was attending a genealogy conference in Boston, I researched Antonio Pilla. I began by searching the city directories for Newton. Here are the most important facts I discovered from city directories:

• Antonio's wife's name was Angelina.
• He was the manager of a company called Basilone & Co. in 1909. (Basilone is a common last name from his hometown in Italy.)
• Antonio and Angelina lived at 17 Jones Court from 1921–1925.
• He was a laborer from 1921–1932.
• They lived at 224 Chapel Street from 1927–1934, and Angelina was still there in 1940. (I never found them at 29 West Street, as listed on Grandpa's ship manifest. But West Street is one street away from Chapel Street and Jones Court.)
• The directory lists Angelina as Antonio's widow in 1936. To my surprise and delight, it includes his date of death: June 14 1934.
• The directory also lists their adult children Henry and Mary at 224 Chapel Street in 1940.
• The directory lists their adult sons Anthony and William at 224 Chapel Street in 1943 and 1945. Anthony is there in 1948, too.

Other helpful articles from Fortify Your Family Tree:

• My Cousin Has a Genealogy Surprise in Store
• How to Turn Your Family History into a Great Read
• One Simple Strategy to Avoid Genealogy Burnout

The city directories formed a solid foundation for my research into this family. I went on to find:

• Antonio's 1913 immigration
• his six children
• his wife's full name and place of birth
• her 1903 immigration as a baby
• her second marriage

Angelina still lived at 224 Chapel Street in 1941 and was likely there when she died in 1963. Google Maps shows me the house still stands today. The grave marker photo on Find a Grave shows Angelina buried with Antonio, not her second husband.

Harvesting Key Data Points from City Directories

Keep an eye out for unexpected details, bad indexing, and mistakes.

I found these and other city directories on Ancestry, but you can also find them for free on FamilySearch. Search their catalog for Keywords "city directory" and the country or city of your choice.

Here are 6 ways you can use city directories for your genealogy research.

1. Find your relative's address between census years. This may help you find them in the following census.
2. Track their occupation through the years. My grandmother's uncle had a different job every time I find him.
3. Discover their spouse's name and other family members' names. Look for the inclusion of adult children living in the household.
4. If the directory says your person is as widow or widower, you can narrow down the year of their spouse's death. Or you may get lucky and see the date of death as I did for Antonio.
5. Check the back of the book for abbreviations of occupations, first names, and street names. The abbreviation "do" means ditto. Don't miss out on any details.
6. Look for a street and avenue directory to locate no-longer-existing streets.

Sometimes you'll find a ton of city directory listings in your search results. Each one is worth a closer look. But don't rely on search results alone. If you know your person might have been in a particular place at a particular time, find the directory and search the alphabetical listings. When you piece these listings together, you can discover a lot about the arc of your relative's life.