Cuyahoga County OHGenWeb

Directories

City Directories are a helpful resource to genealogists, especially for filling in those years between the census records. It is good to extract your ancestor's information for each successive year, to get an idea of their work history and where they lived. Some directories list spouses and children. Often you will find the widow with her husband's name listed shortly after he died. Childrne in the household who are working are often listed. (One caution - city directory information is collected often the year before the date of the directory.) City directories list residents even if they have no phone or if a phone number is unlisted.

Other directories than the usual city ones exist, too. Farm directories are great sources. Phone directories are usually by name, but sometimes have the numbers listed numerically with the owner. And Criss-Cross Directories list everyone by street address. Directories often have historical information at the front or back, businesses, maps, statistics, and emergency information in them.

We suggest you start here for an explanation of the various directories in Cuyahoga County:

Online directories can be found at the following sites:

• 1846 Cleveland Directory at Morgan Ohio Library
• 1848 Cleveland Directory at Morgan Ohio Library
• 1850 Cleveland Directory at Morgan Ohio Library
• Cleveland Directories at Cleveland Public Library
  • 1879
  • 1879-1880
  • 1880-1881
  • 1881-1882
  • 1882-1883
  • 1883-1884
  • 1884-1885
  • 1886-1887
  • 1911
  • 1943
  • 1954
  • 1955
  • 1974

ANCESTRY.com - As of 2013 Ancestry has the following Cuyahoga County Directories online:

• Bedford: 1939, 1945, 1948, 1950, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1957, and 1959-1960.
• Cleveland: 1861, 1863-1943, 1947, 1951, 1953-1960. Also they have directories of Bar Association, businesses, churches, socialites, and the Cleveland Blue Book (society address book)
• Parma: 1946, 1948, 1951, 1953, 1955-56, 1958-1960.

FOLD3 - They have city directories from 1861-1923. If you have a Cuyahoga County Public Library Card you can access these records for free from home on Fold3. Go to: http://www.cuyahogalibrary.org/genealogyexpert.aspx and click on Research, then Electronic Resources, enter your library card number and password, choose Genealogy on the left, then Fold3. Once you are on the Fold3 page, on the left click "Records" on the top of the page, then "Browse", then "Non Military" on the left, then City Directories, then "Ohio", then "City Directories - Cleveland." 1861-1923 on Fold3.

HathiTrust. has Cleveland city directories for 1837 reprinted in 1908, 1856, 1872, 1874-76, 1878, 1880-89, 1891, 1896, 1898-99, 1902-03, 1905-06, 1908, 1910, 1914, 1916, 1918. They likely have other cities as well.

LDSGenealogy.com gives a good list of city directories with links for Cleveland and Cuyahoga County: