Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Reminder to Always Scrutinize City Directories

My 3rd cousin 2x removed Mildred Hester Nichols was married to Theodore William Woodbeck, and they lived in Jackson, Mississippi in the mid-1940's. They had one child under 18 living with them--how do I know that?  Jackson, East Jackson and Pearl City, Mississippi City Directory, 1947, "Woodbeck Theo W (Mildren H)" p. 1105; digital image, U.S. City Directories (https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/2469/13635560/828798955 : 7 November 2017).

Most entries in city directories are self-explanatory, but sometimes a directory will use code to indicate something extra about the residents.  In this case I found that the Jackson, Mississippi 1947 city directory indicated how many children under 18 were in the household:

Part of the explanation page shows that they accounted for children under 18, something I had not seen before.  Since the 1947 city directory was only partially digitized I could not find its Explanation page, but the 1945 Jackson, Mississippi city directory was complete and appeared to use the same format as the 1947 one.  Jackson, East Jackson and Pearl City, Mississippi City Directory, 1945, "Explanation" image 9; digital image, U.S. City Directories (https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/2469/12888254#?imageId=12888262 : 7 November 2017).





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