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Who lived in your house?
The Hill Directories are a series of directories for a variety of cities with the residents listed by address and by last name (often with their employment). You can look up who lived in your house back in the day and then cross-reference to see their occupation.
In Richmond, there are directories available for Richmond and for the Richmond Suburbs (of Henrico and Chesterfield). Some places have put their directories online, but to see ours you have to go to the Main Library and crack open the big books up on the 2nd floor (or the microfiche if you want to get further back…).
Through the listings, it is possible to find out who lived at an address and their occupation. It is also possible to get a feel for the development/decline of houses and blocks. As the addresses are in numeric order, you can tell when addresses come online for specific blocks, or when specific houses went vacant or were demolished. Tracking the names down through the years can give a real sense of the history of the houses, people, and blocks.
There aren’t any occupants listed for my block of 23rd Street in the years before my house was built. Houses first show up on the block in 1897 as the trolley lines moved into the area: 1200 as Reverend J.S. Dill, 1201 as W.F. Dillard, and 1212 as J.E. Stowe. Of these, only 1200 North 23rd Street is still standing (though vacant).
In 1898 two homes were added: 1205, listed as occupied by W.T. McCook, and mine at 1206, occupied by Charles Lucien Arnall. In the years before my house was built, the Arnalls lived at 1828 Carrington Street. Arnall was listed as being a roller-coverer; other Arnalls in the directory are listed as carpenters and as a tinner.
1206 North 23rd Street
1206 house stayed in the Arnall family until the early 1920s. Ellen (Rosalie Confectionery) and Lucian M. Martin (carpenter) then lived in the house until the early 1940s, when it looks like Ellen Martin (widowed) took in the boarder Lillian Taylor (Consolidated Paper & Box Manufacturing).
Lucian W. Martin (son?) lived at 1206 for a few years in the late 1940s, and then folks moved in&out until the mid-1950s. In 1957, Charles E. (taxi driver) and Bessie T. Lewis (cafeteria worker at Fox Elementary) moved in and stayed a good while: Charles is listed until 1985, Bessie Lewis (widowed) is still in the house as late at 1996. After 1996 there is a different name listed each year, with gaps in 2000 and 2001.
I love those books. I remember looking up my grandfather when I was studying at the library in high school. His occupation was listed as “huckster.”
Nice post. I think I have seen these before, but forgotten. Need to go back and take a look, thanks!
Cool.
What’s a huckster? What’s a roller-coverer?
I’ve looked at directories at the Library of Virginia during my research on Woodville. I’m not sure who published them, but I copied some pages for my street before Fairfield was built. I know this house was supposedly vacant in 1914 but lists my great grandparents in 1915 and I think someone by the name of Johnson in either 1910 or 1912. I know we’re related to some Johnsons. How far back do these go? I’d love to see when we started living here. We’ve had the lot since 1871 but we don’t know exactly when the house was built. An 1888 map I have shows names of people on lots (ours was one of them), some houses, and the original Woodville School and Mt. Tabor buildings. I’ll check these out. Thanks.
This is perfect. I had been wondering how to go about researching previous owners of our house. I can’t wait to go look up our house and my grandparents and other ancestors.
Bullwinkle, a huckster is a peddler or street vendor.
Cadeho, when I did some research on my block of N. 23rd, I found directories at the Library of Virginia that went back to the mid-1800’s, I think. It’s been a few years, so my memory is a little fuzzy about the dates and particulars, but I also seem to remember them being available on microfilm.
The Valentine has copies as well. One thing to remember is the publication date for each directory can create a problem with accuracy since people may have moved or properties may have changed hands prior to the publication date. However, it is so much fun to study.
I found in the books that the first occupant of my house in 1905 at 2710 E. Grace was the Rev. W. Dorsett minister of the Leigh St. Baptist Church. Additionally, you can find other occupants in years following.
It is so cool to explore the past and find out about these people. I even traced and went to S.C. and found out more about the life of Rev. Dorsett (1863-1915)and his family.
JJ
Thanks for the info. I was on the 2nd floor of the Main library when I read the post, so I walked right over and found all the previous owners of my house on N 35th street. The first owner (1925) was E.B. Muire, assistant cashier at Church Hill Bank on Broad Street. Super cool!
Hi, I have seen these posting can anyone tell me how far back these books go. Do they go back before the 1800’s. I have been doing ancestry research for 5 years and have done some extensive research mainly land records deeds. I have found a many deeds but with lot numbers and am trying to trace the sales of all my ancestors property to current and having a look at these books may be a huge help. My ancestor owned a Windsor Chair Shop on 9th Street down from the Capital Building in Richmond where the Sun Trust Building is today. But they owned many other properties. Your help would be much appreciated. Thanks Carolyn
I stopped in this afternoon to check out the Hill Directories but I only saw them as far back as 1902. The original post discusses dates earlier than that so are the older ones in a different location? I found 1902-onward just to the left of the entrance to the computer lab.
I found out a lot of neat info about our house. Thanks for posting this link!!!
The books I was digging into were all in the same place — upstairs at the Main Library, on a set of shelves to the left in the room to the right at the top of the stairs. The earliest books I looked at would’ve been around 1895, no idea how far back they go.
The Valentine Richmond History Center has copies of all the Directories going back even further. I’m thinking I saw ones from the 1870’s or earlier. You must make an appointment to use their library. so call ahead.
I checked on my house at the library about a year ago. They do have older Hill Directories but they are the ones on microfilm (going back to at least 1886). If you ask one of the librarians they can show you what drawer they’re in.
I found the Library of Congress Richmond newspaper archive during the Civil War to 1922 a great resource for personal history revolving around a house in some cases. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/pages/
I found several newspaper articles on the residents of my house; wedding announcements, funeral announcements, real estate ads, thank you’s for when they donated bandages and chickens to the soldiers at the hospital, graduation announcements for one young lady at the turn of the century, etc.
Addresses were often spelled out as 300 North Thirty-Third Street or 2500 East Broad Street, no abbreviations.