TIP #4. Sometimes genealogical research is easier in the city. Conducting Research in the City
Cities with concentrated populations have always created and saved more and better records than rural areas. Especially from earlier times in the US, when the population was largely rural, social and genealogical information is in general much more abundant and available for persons and families living in larger cities that elsewhere. George K. Schweitzer, Ph.D., Sc.D., summarizes this situation and gives us an idea of the kinds records that we may expect to find in his "Handbook for Genealogical Sources" pp. 71-72, including a reference:
City research in general follows genealogical research - but there are some special aspects of it that we need to recognize. From it's early settlements in 1607 until present, the area which is now the US has moved from being a predominantly rural society to being a predominantly urban or city society (74%). In 1790 there were only four cities in the US with populations over 10,000. They were, in order of decreasing size: New York City, Philadelphia, Boston and Baltimore. As of 1850, there were seven cities with populations over 50,000 (listed in order): New York City, Baltimore, Boston, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, St. Louis. By 1900, the major cities (those with more than 500,000 people) were New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Boston and Baltimore. In general, this has given genealogists an advantage because cities generally collect more information on their inhabitants than do rural counties and towns.Mary S. Von Gerichten, March, 2000Among the most important of the genealogical sources for cities are city directories. They give you the potential to follow your urban ancestor year-by-year. In addition, they often contain excellent contemporary maps, ward boundaries, church, and cemetery listings. Cities also keep more detailed land records than rural jurisdictions, often including maps of land owners, property tax assessment and collection lists, building permits, assessment records for street and sewer improvements, and utility (water, gas, light, garbage) installation and payment records. School records in urban areas are more likely to have been saved for earlier years than elsewhere. And vital records were often kept earlier in cities than in the state in general. Mortuaries were operating earlier in cities than elsewhere. Further, local libraries and archives, both public and private, are better financed in cities, thus have preserved more material. It may also be noted that city newspapers, especially valuable for obituaries, are better and earlier in cities. The possibility of large ethnic groups in the highly populated cities gives rise to the publication of special ethnic newspapers, which are likely to carry more data on members of the ethnic community than regular newspapers do. Likewise, cities afford concentrations of professionals (attorneys, physicians, dentists, engineers, teachers), which gives rise to professional directories which list them. Cities sometimes function independently of counties (as in VA), but more often their jurisdictions overlaps, yet in both cases, the cities may have courts which have no counterparts outside the urban areas. These city courts are called by various names, so you must be careful to identify them, and to use their records.
Cities with concentrated populations, and better facilities for record preservation, also often have repositories which have saved business records, corporation records, employment records, professional association records, union records, maritime records, railroad records, and city employee records. All the above special record types and others may be sought in city halls, city offices, city archives, city libraries, and private libraries in the city (especially historical and genealogical libraries). The names and addresses of many of these can be found under the appropriate states in: ANCESTRY'S REDBOOK - A. Eichholz, Ancestry Publishing, Salt Lake City, UT. 1992.
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