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If you haven’t used city directories in your genealogy research, you’re missing a wonderful resource that not only pinpoints an ancestor by place and time, but offers a detailed picture of where he or she lived.

They also can fill in gaps between the federal censuses (a lot can happen in 10 years). Unfortunately, you will only find them in urban areas.

Those of you who lived in the East Bay for years will remember the Polk Directory. I still have the issue from 1998 for Bristol County. It listed businesses and residents alphabetically, but you also could search for someone by address or phone number.

City directories were the phone books of their time. The alphabetical listing of residents includes a person’s occupation, residence, if he or she was a boarder or living in a house, and sometimes if they died or moved in the preceding year. Some only list the head of household, but most list the wife (sometimes in parentheses) and everyone in the house who was employed and where — and widows.

Knowing where an ancestor lived can help you find their place of burial or their baptism, marriage or burial records. A city directory can provide names of local churches and cemeteries as a starting place. If your ancestor is in the directory one year and then his widow is listed the following year, he probably died during that year.

Once located, ancestors can then be tracked through land, tax, military, probate and naturalization records. And, remember, the directory was published a year after the information was collected.

While researching directors online, I had been guilty of finding an ancestor in the alphabetical listings, making a copy of the page and moving on. Then, I was at the R.I. Historical Society Library a few years ago and started browsing some of their directories looking for surnames.

In addition to the resident listings, there is so much more to be found. Start at the beginning of the directory. There is a table of contents, ward boundaries, maps, government offices, churches, schools, banks, ferries and steamboats, cemeteries, fraternal organizations, public officers, offices and other important places, abbreviations (which you will need in the alphabetical listings), some vital records, and sometimes photos. Some have a separate alphabetical listing of businessmen. Advertisements also are a great source of information and amusement.

A case study

My great-great-grandfather, Frank Bean, was always a mystery. City directories helped me solve a big piece of the puzzle. He was born in Medford, Mass., in 1860 and is listed in the censuses as living with his parents until 1870. Then, he disappears and never appears in a census again. His mother died in 1876 and his father remarried in 1878. I wonder if this is why he left home.

He resurfaces in Fort Dodge, Iowa, in 1886 when he marries my great-great-grandmother, Flora Ingersoll. They have two daughters. Then, he disappears again. By 1900 (the 1890 census was destroyed), Flora is living in Milwaukee with her daughters, father and a stepmother.

Frank listed Chicago as his place of residence on their marriage certificate, but there was nothing in the Chicago City Directories from about 1885 to 1900.

My mother thought Frank was a traveling salesman. That would explain how he managed to avoid the census. So, I started searching old newspapers online.

In the July 2, 1889, Daily Inter Ocean in Chicago, he is listed as checking into the Sherman Hotel. Good chance it’s him because it said “Frank S. Bean, Fort Dodge, Iowa.”

In the Waterloo Courier in Iowa, a story on Jan. 15, 1890, listed him as a candidate for the office of State Fish Commissioner, backed by the governor.

But, a city directory for Sioux City, Iowa, 1890-91, was my eureka moment. It reads “Bean, Frank E., trav salesman, Jas. E. Booge & Sons, bds Hotel Oxford.”

Jas E. Booge & Sons were pork packers and “their hams can be found on hotel tables from Chicago to San Francisco,” according to the “History of Western Iowa, 1882.”

Where to find city directories

• www.uscitydirectories.com tells you if a directory exists for a particular locale and where it can be found.

• The R.I. Historical Society has a good collection of Rhode Island, Fall River and Attleboro, Mass., directories. The Family History Library and National Archives have collections, too. There also are quite a few online. See the sources listed below:

• www.distantcousin. com/Directories/ has free directories that can be browsed by state. There are tax lists mixed in, too, such as the 1888 tax list for Bristol. They recently added the 1921 Newport city directory and one for Poughkeepsie, N.Y., in 1896, among others.

• Google Books is one way to search for city directories online for free.

• www.historicaldirectories.org is a free website produced by the University of Leicester. It has local and trade directories for England and Wales from 1750 to 1919. You can search by location, decade or keywords.

• www. ancestry.com has the best collection, but is a paid site. They also have lots of city directories to help bridge the missing 1890 U.S. census. They are listed by state and then county. In Rhode Island, they range from 1876 to 1937.

• www.fold3.com, a new paid site, also has some. They offer a free seven-day trial.

• Or, go to www.cyndislist.com and type “city directories” into the search box on the homepage.

Save the date

On Friday, Feb. 3, “Who Do You Think You Are?” returns on NBC for three more episodes of genealogical journeys featuring Oscar winner Marisa Tomei and actors Martin Sheen and Blair Underwood.

Lynda Rego has a Facebook page at www.facebook.com/lynda.rego where she shares tips on genealogy and other topics. Stop by, click on Like and share any interests you have for upcoming columns.