Monday, January 30, 2012

Frederick Family Genealogy--Pittsburgh City Directories


Ancestry.com continues to add scans of records that have been valuable to my family research.  One of the most recent are two Pittsburgh Pennsylvania City Directories.  In the past I have gone through some late 1800's and early 1900's Pittsburgh City Directories on microfilm at the library.  Either that library did not have the 1904 and 1907 City Directory, or I was unaware at the time, that my Frederick family was then living in the Pittsburgh area.


I was delighted to find a record of my maternal great grandfather, Alfred Frederick, one of his daughters and my maternal grandmother, Martha Marie Frederick and one of his sons, Robert Frederick in the 1904 Pittsburgh City Directory.  On the 1900 Pennsylvania Census, the Frederick family is living in Esplen Borough, Pennsylvania, along the Ohio River.  Apparently, by 1904, the family moved into the city of Pittsburgh, on 5125 Liberty Avenue.  There must have been a train switch yard near their apartment, as Alfred was employed as a switch tender for the railroad; a job he had held for several decades.  This section of Liberty Avenue is near the Bloomfield area of town.


The second city directory is dated 1907.  The family has moved across town, near the Monongehala River on Craft Place.  My excitement with this record is that my maternal grandmother is listed, along with the place of her employment and the phone number.  My mother, her daughter, had told me that Teek (my pet name for my grandmother) was employed as a stenographer before she married.  This is the first record that proves my mother's memory was correct.  I have to check further, but I believe that my grandparents met through work.  I have to explore further where my grandfather's place of employment was in 1907.

I do not know how many years the Frederick's had a city address. More research is needed; however, I do know that they were living in Bellevue, Pennsylvania when my maternal great grandmother, Lucinda Orr Frederick died on December 15, 1909.

I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU. All comments are welcome; however, if they are inappropriate, they will not be published. 

PLEASE post your e-mail in the comment section if you would like to network about a particular surname or topic. I will capture it for my use only and not include it when I publish your comment.
© 2012, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser

2 comments:

  1. Have you seen this Historic Pittsburgh website. Here is the link for the directories but they also have maps, census, and photos. The whole site is digital.

    http://digital.library.pitt.edu/p/pitttextdir/

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  2. I also have family ties to Pittsburgh and rely on Historic Pittsburgh for free city directories (http://digital.library.pitt.edu/pittsburgh/). If you haven't already, you definitely should check out this site. They have other searchable documents as well. Good luck with your research!

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