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The 1915 Sandusky City Directory was published by W.M. Lawrence & Co., located in Norwalk, Ohio.
This directory features five pages of rosters of government officials at the federal, state, county and local level. A roster of incorporated companies gives key officials of locally owned businesses. Under the roster of religious organizations, several lines are devoted to each of the churches in Sandusky. Many details are provided, which could prove helpful to researchers of local history and genealogy.
For example, under the listing for Grace Church, we can learn that Mrs. Lida Amolsch was president of the St. John’s Guild, Rev. E. G. Mapes was the Scoutmaster for the Boy Scouts, and Mary Lyman was the branch secretary of the Girls’ Friendly Society. Under the listing for the A.M.E. Church, Mrs. Frank Smith was the president of the Sunlight Club, and the church stewards were Moses Thompson, George R. Thomas, and John Adams. If you know which church your ancestors attended, browse through pages 11-14 of the City Directory to see if they were in leadership roles at their local church. On pages 14 and 15 are listed the officers of local organizations such as the Art Study Club, Masonic Lodges, the Plattdeutsche Verein, and several unions and other organized groups in Sandusky.
The bulk of the 1915 Sandusky City Directory is an alphabetical listing of residents, including their address, telephone number, and often information about employment. A particularly helpful feature of the 1915 directory and subsequent directories is the Census of Streets on pages 245-415. Streets are listed alphabetically in this section, with listings of the head of the household, spouse, and children at each individual address. Names in italics indicate the person is the owner of the property. A name following a colon indicates this person is the wife of the previous person named; names following a semicolon indicate these are children. Names following a cross are people under 21 years of age, while names following two vertical lines are individuals under the age of 16.
Another feature of the Census of Streets that is helpful for researchers is the breakdown of tenants in Sandusky’s many office buildings. On page 271, we see that at 244 Columbus Avenue, which was part of the Sloane Block, C. Webb Sadler was a real estate agent in Room 15 and Claude J. Minor was an attorney in Room 4. Dr. Henry Graefe, Jr. and Dr. William Graefe, and dentists Dr. F. J. Maher and Dr. D. D. Smith all had offices in this building, as did C. J. Pascoe, photographer.
The 1915 Sandusky City Directory appears to be a straightforward city directory, but it is actually a valuable tool for local history research. If you have ancestors who lived or worked in Sandusky in 1915, visit the Sandusky Library to browse through the directory. While there some gaps, the Sandusky Library has Sandusky City Directories spanning the years 1855 through the present.
2 comments:
City directories from years past are incredibly helpful to anyone searching archival information on their ancestors, fleshing out information on where they lived, occupation, children, proximity of family relatives, etc. In the case of my wife's family, Irish immigrants in Connecticut, it was instructional for me, a product of Sandusky, to learn that in the early 1900's most of her Connecticut ancestors lived within 4 or 5 blocks of each other, and married persons who lived a block or so away. This no doubt led to the Irish in America being considered "clannish." In my wife's family's case, they were!!
I need to come spend a week in Sandusky looking up our family's history. I do know we lived in the Mertz apartment building. Then bought a house at 1312 Shelby St. The last home my parents bought was at 2515 Peterson Lane. My father Eugene August Buddelmeyer worked for the Ohio Bell Telephone company. A job my great Uncle James Harris helped him obtained. I was born March 12, 1953. Amy Elizabeth Buddelmeyer
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