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.

Key Facts on Your Ancestor's Italian Military Record

As a child I heard that my grandfather was a prisoner of war in World War I. I heard he ate rats to stay alive. It wasn't until 2018 that I learned more.

That's the year I went to Benevento, Italy, to see his military record. (Follow the preceding link to find out how to do it.) There's a ton of information on this record.

My 2023 article, "Free Italian Military Records for WWI and WWII", has been popular recently. I owe you a detailed explanation of what you can find on your ancestor's Italian military record.

There's a detailed physical description of your ancestor on his Italian military record.

Most of the World War I era Italian military records follow the same format. At the top of the page is the record number, the soldier's name, and their year of birth.

Personal Data and Markings

The top of the left column says Date e Contrassegni Personali or Personal Data and Markings. This section tells you the names of the soldier's parents, his birth date and place of birth. There's a detailed physical description, including:

• Height (statura) and chest (torace) measurement in centimeters. My grandfather was 158 centimeters tall with an 80 centimeter chest.
• Color (colore) and type (forma) of hair (capelli). His hair was brown and curly.
• Color of eyes (occhi). His eyes were brown.
• Complexion (colorito). His skin was rosy.
• Condition of teeth (dentatura). His teeth were healthy.
• Art (arte) or profession (professione). He was a shoemaker.
• Whether he could read (leggere) or write (scrivere). He could do both.
• Draft number (numero nella leva) and place (comune) of registration. He drew number 51 in the 1891 draft in Baselice.

Continuing down the left column, we see where the soldier would be when home on leave. (Domicilio Eletto all'Atto dell'Invio in Congedo.) This is usually his hometown.

Next is Distinctions and Special Services (the heading is Distinzioni e Servizi Speciali). I've downloaded a lot of these records for soldiers who died in the war. I can't find any that have something written in this section.

The next section lists exemptions from service. (The heading is Annotazioni per il personale ascritto a corpi o servizi pei quali sono stabilite dispense dalle chiamate.) My grandfather's record says the army released him on 14 Aug 1926—long after he'd settled in New York.

The bottom of the left column tells you if the soldier ever left Italy. The heading means he obtained a passport without restrictions (Nulla osta per conseguire il passaporto per l'estero e rimpatrii). The military gave my grandfather clearance to go to New York on 31 Mar 1914 and 2 Apr 1920.

The large center column details the soldier's military information. Exact dates are in the right column.

Enrollment, Services, Promotions and other registration changes

The heading at the top of the center column is Arruolamento, Servizi, Promozioni ed altre variaziony matricolari. Military service was mandatory at age 20 in Italy at the time, so the first entry is for the soldier's enlistment.

Some parts of this column are handwritten, and others use a rubber stamp. You'll see phrases repeated. These include:

• chiamato alle armi (called to arms)
• lasciato in congede illimitato (left on indefinite leave)
• mandato in congedo illimitato (sent on indefinite leave)
• concessa congedo illimitato (granted indefinite leave)
• reggimento fanteria (infantry regiment)
• dispensato dalla chiamata alle armi (exempted from the call to arms). This can be due to illness or because he left the country.
• prigioniero (prisoner)
• rimpatriato (repatriated)

Merit Action Campaigns (Decorations, commendations, wounds, injuries, fractures, mutilations in war or in service)

The bottom of the page details service awards and injuries. The heading is Campagne Azioni di Merito; Decorazioni, encomi, ferite, lesioni, fratture, mutilazioni in guerra od in servicio.

The army awarded him the Inter-Allied Victory Medal and the Italian War Commemorative Medal. He was in New York at the time. I don't know if they gave these medals to his mother in Baselice.

What a gift it is to see a fallen soldier's military record or obtain the volume and record number.

Some of the specifics I learned about my grandfather's service were:

• He enlisted on 21 Mar 1911, before his 20th birthday.
• His first call to arms was on 23 Oct 1911.
• He received a medical leave on 20 May 1912.
• He joined an infantry regiment on 5 Dec 1913. They granted him unlimited leave on 21 Feb 1914 because of his honorable conduct. (That's when he left for New York City.)
• They excused him from the call to arms on 15 Jul 1914 and 23 May 1915 because he was in America with permission.
• He returned to Italy to answer the call to arms issued on 31 Aug 1915. (Not everyone did. His first cousin stayed in New York.) He joined the 40th infantry regiment.
• He joined the 134th infantry regiment on 14 May 1916.
• They promoted him to corporal on 1 Jan 1917.
• He became a prisoner of war in the Mauthausen, Austria, prison camp on 6 Nov 1917. Mauthausen was a concentration camp in World War II. It's the subject of a gut-wrenching film, "The Photographer of Mauthausen". His date of capture confirmed my earlier speculation. He was very likely among the 250,000 Italians taken prisoner during the Battle of Caporetto.
• One year later, on 6 Nov 1918, forces released him from the POW camp.
• On 21 Aug 1919, the army granted him unlimited leave. They cited his honorable service and faithful conduct.

I heard that he spent two years at home recovering before finally returning to New York. Now I have actual dates. He returned home shortly after his 6 Nov 1918 liberation, and the army approved his return to New York on 2 Apr 1920. That was 17 months later. Italy paid his fare.

My grandfather always conducted himself in a proud and honorable manner. His military record shows he earned that right.

No matter where your ancestor served, you can learn a lot from their military record.

And speaking of military members:

• Appreciate the Veterans in Your Family Tree
• Finding Your Family's Fallen War Heroes
• Does Independence Day Make You Think of Your Ancestors?
• An Unusual Find Triggers Historical Research
• Finding Fallen Soldiers in Your Family Tree
• Important Stories Wait for You in Military Records

Find Your Passion and Genealogy is Pure Joy

Everyone with an interest in their family tree was a beginner once. And it seemed overwhelming. Then we find our way. We make mistakes. We go back and fill in what we missed. After a while, our family trees have leaves on almost every branch.

Is this when some people get tired of genealogy? Do they imagine there's nothing left to do?

If that's how you're starting to feel, you haven't found your passion yet.

A single spark can ignite your passion for your family tree.

Finding That Passion

I became so passionate about genealogy that I resented having to work for a living. So my husband and I did the math, and I was able to retire a few years early.

Now I can devote my time to the two tasks that spark my passion.

1. Citing my sources. In 2017 vital records for my ancestral hometowns came online. I downloaded them all to my computer. I decided to piece together tons of families from these towns without citing my sources for now.

Big mistake! Who's going to believe my family tree without sources? So I've been creating all the missing source citations. I've made a lot of progress and should finish later this year.

At the start, more than 9,000 blood relatives in my family tree had no source citations. Today it's down to 814 blood relatives. I push to complete at least 100 people a day. I've gone as high as 180 people in a day.

When I finish the 814 remaining relatives, I'll have 52,000 non-blood relatives to tackle. But they're not as big of a priority. I'll keep working on this project, but it may not get all my attention every day.

This passion is making my family tree valuable to anyone with relatives from my towns. It will be my legacy.

2. Italian vital records. Once I retired, I took things up a notch. Instead of searching the document images for one relative at a time, I began renaming the images. Now they're all searchable on my computer. I name each birth and death record for the individual and their father. For example, take the 1814 birth record of Antonio Bianco, the son of Francesco Bianco. I renamed the image "8 Antonio Bianco di Francesco". (8 is the document number. The di means of in Italian and makes a great shorthand.) The image's folder location tells me the type of record, year, and town. It's in the "1814 births" folder for the town of Baselice.

For marriage records, I name the groom and bride and use the document number. For example, "15 Giovanni Iamarino & Libera Scrocca".

With the images renamed, I can search for a particular name or for all the children of Francesco Bianco. This is a tremendous help when you're piecing together a whole family.

When I finish renaming an entire town's records, I create a spreadsheet and publish it on my website. Anyone with ancestors from my towns can search these files for their people. They can see where to find their documents online. This is a valuable service, so I'm passionate about working on the next town. (See "How to Create and Share Your Ancestral Town Database".)

Now It's Your Turn

What about you? What can you do to keep up your interest and improve the quality of your tree?

Seek out the parts of the family-tree building process that excite you. When you find one, pour your time into it. I'll bet it keeps you eager to come back for more. Here's a checklist to get you started.

• What’s your favorite part of the process?
  • Reviewing your online hints. See "3 Ways to Tell If That Hint is No Good".
  • Checking out every decent search result. If I discover that one of my Italian nationals came to the United States, I do search for them in U.S. records. Then I do the same for their children.
  • Working on one document type at a time. When I decided to improve my downloaded document images, I went through one type at a time. I fixed them in Photoshop. I found it exciting to crop the big black backgrounds out of draft registration cards. Now my images look better and take up less space. (See "How to Improve Your Digital Genealogy Documents".)
  • Examining your DNA matches' trees. Sometimes it's a DNA match's tree that tells me who married whom, and who left Italy. These are valuable leads.
  • Poring over new record collections. What a joy it was when the New York City Municipal Archives put lots of vital records online. Now I can find vital records for relatives at my desk. (See "When Is a Genealogy Harvest Too Big?")
• What needs improvement?
  • Is your style consistent? Add quality to your family tree by using a consistent style for names, places, and dates. (See "Make Consistency King in Your Family Tree".)
  • How complete are your source citations? The free Family Tree Analyzer can show you exactly who is missing their citations. It's easy to generate a list. See "These Steps Make Your Family Tree Much More Valuable".
  • Do your images need help? Why put a color-faded photo in your family tree when you can correct the color? Why have a huge black border around that ship manifest? You can use photo-editing software to improve all your images.
  • Are you happy with your document filing method? If you can't find the document you need right away, you may need a more logical system. See "3 Simple Rules for Managing Your Digital Genealogy Documents" and "3 Rules for Naming Digital Genealogy Documents".
• What can you chip away at each time you open your tree?
  
  I'm lucky to be able to treat this hobby like it's the full-time job I always wanted. But you may not have much time to spend on genealogy. Which tasks can you pick up at a moment's notice and make good progress on? Some suggestions:
  
  
  • Make a list of your closest DNA matches. Work on identifying the closest match you don't already know. (See "Digging Into a DNA Match's Family Tree".)
  • Run any report from Family Tree Analyzer and whittle down the list. For instance, run a Data Errors report and check the results against your family tree. How many can you fix in one sitting? (See "How to Find Errors in Your Family Tree".)
  • Start a folder for one ancestor and gather more and more documents to use in their "Book of Life". Keep a text or Word file in that folder, too, with ongoing notes to use in their book. See "How to Create a 'Book of Life' for Your Relatives".
  • Keep a detailed note about where you left off for the day. Return to the same task next time without having to jog your memory.

Someone once said choose a job you love, and you'll never have to work a day in your life. Well, if you find your passion for genealogy, you'll be glad to work on your family tree every chance you get. You'll feel driven to make it the best it can be.

Go find your spark and light that fire!