Monthly Archives: June 2015

Chicago Street Changes

In 1909, street numbers changed in the City of Chicago. This guide to the changes is a PDF file from the Chicago History Museum’s website:

chicago

From the Chicago Street 1909 era renumbering guide from the Chicago History Museum Website

1909 changes

In 1911, street numbers in the Chicago Loop area changed. This guide to those changes is a PDF file from the Chicago History Muesum’s website:

1911 changes in the Loop

This guide covers street name changes and is also from the Chicago History Museum’s website (click here).

 

City Directories Online

Here are some places online to find US city directories:

Feel free to enter your favorite search sites for these in the comments.

Reminder–OCR Searches Are Not Perfect

Just a little reminder that sometimes one needs to search for themselves. This directory from Champaign County, Illinois contains the last name of “Fecht” but that did not turn up as a result when a full text search was conducted using the search box on this item which is available digitally on Archive.org. fecht-archiveorg

Various Miscellaneous Items

Many databases containing items from a variety of locations allow users to use a drop-down menu to view an inventory of specific locations.

Make certain you check out any listing that could be statewide or for more than one location. I almost missed an 1878 farmers’ directory in Illinois because it was classified as a “various” location. searchtip

Seamen’s Protection Certificates

As of this posting, FamilySearch, has the following Seamen’s Protection Certificates available online:

Maine, Bath, Seamen’s Proofs of Citizenship, 1833-1868

Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Seamen’s Proofs of Citizenship, 1791-1861

Ancestry.com also has the following databases of these documents–FamilySearch does not have them all online and they have not yet been indexed.

The National Archives also has a PDF file from 2014 with information on these records as well: