Shelbyville, Indiana U.S., Directory and Gazetteer, 1892-1893

The city of Shelbyville is the county seat of Shelby County. This database is a transcription of a city directory originally published in 1892. In addition to providing the residents' names, it provides their addresses and occupational information. The accompanying gazetteer provides a listing of landowners in Shelby County. The database includes more than 6,100 names, mostly heads of household.

The following abbreviations have frequently been used in this work:

agt=Agent
al=Alley
bds=Boards
bet=Between
bkpr=Book-keeper
bldg=Building
Blan=Blanchard
clk=Clerk
cor=Corner
C. & B=Conrey & Birely
C. W. & D=Conrey, Wallar & Deprez
dept=Department
D'H. & S=D'Heur & Swain
e=East
fac=Factory
fur=Furniture
F. & M.=Frechtling & Morner
h=House
H. Fur. Co.=Hodell Furniture Co
lab=Laborer
mkr=Maker
mnfg=Manufacturing
mnfr=Manufacturer
McC. & P=McConnell & Parrish
n=North
ne=Northeast
nr=Near
opp=Opposite
pres=President
prin=Principal
propr=Proprietor
Rev=Reverend
s=South
si=Side
sec=Secretary
supt=Superintendent
S. & B.=Stewart & Blakely
S. B. M. & Co=S. B. Morris & Co.
Shel. Ca. Co=Shelbyville Cabinet Co.
Shel. L. & D. Co=Shelbyville Lounge & Desk Co.
treas=Treasurer
w=West
wid=Widow
wks=Works
*=Colored

The abbreviation "h." for house, in describing the residence of an individual, indicates that the individual was the head of the family. When the word "lives" is used in the same connection, it indicates that the person is a member of the family other than the head. The compiler has, as a general rule, given the occupation or business as he received it from members of the household. It is hoped that no one will be offended at the designations of "servant," "domestic," or any other title, because the compiler has only used such titles when they were given him by some member of the individual's family. Great carelessness exists in the numbering of many houses, notwithstanding the fact that the failure to number is an offense punishable by fine. The compiler, after notifying the parties that they needed to number their houses and after then being greeted by the same carelessness, has designated such houses as completely as possible; hence the reader will often find a house located between two other numbers, or, when it is at the end of a street, "beyond such and such a number." Sometimes "opposite (a given number)" is found.

City directories are primarily useful for locating people in a particular place and time. They can tell you generally where an ancestor lived and give an exact location for census years. They are also useful for linkage with sources other than censuses.

There are usually several parts to a city directory. The section of most interest to the genealogist, of course, is the alphabetical listing of names, for it is there that you may find your ancestor.

Whenever you use a directory, however, it is important to refer to the page showing abbreviations used in the alphabetical section of the directory, usually following the name in each entry. Some abbreviations are quite common, such as h for home or r, indicating residence. There may even be a subtle distinction between r for residents who are related to the homeowner and b for boarders who are not related.

Some city directories list adult children who lived with their parents but were working or going to school. Look for persons of the same surname residing at the same address. If analyzed and interpreted properly, these annual directories can tell you (by implication) which children belong to which household, when they married and started families of their own, and when they established themselves in business. In cases where specific occupation is given, you can search records pertinent to that occupation.

Once an ancestor has been found in a city directory, there are several ways the information can be used to gain access to, or link with, such sources as censuses, death and probate records, church records, naturalization records, and land records.

Taken from Chapter 11: Research in Directories, The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy by Gordon Lewis Remington; edited by Loretto Dennis Szucs and Sandra Hargreaves Luebking (Salt Lake City, UT: Ancestry Incorporated, 1997).