A Directory and Handbook of the City of Williamsburg
and the County of James City, Virginia (1898)

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About the directory

The 1898 city directory is the earliest surviving directory for Williamsburg and James City County.

City directories were widely produced in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. They listed the heads of household in the town, their address, and their occupation. In later years, telephone numbers and sometimes spouse's name were also included. City directories can be a rich resource for historians and genealogists.

The Williamsburg directory is subdivided into city residents and county residents. For the city, "white" residents and "colored" residents are listed separately. Unfortunately, the county listings include only "white" residents, and do not list occupations.

The descriptive text about the city and county, and the many business advertisements, give much additional information about the residents. For this web site, the Special Collections staff has added blue buttons next to individual names that are links to pages where that individual is mentioned in the text or an advertisement. A few individuals are mentioned in the text but not listed in the directory; in these cases, the names have been added in blue type to the appropriate page in the listings.

College of William and Mary. Swem Library. Special Collections.
P. O. Box 8794, Williamsburg, VA 23187-8794
spcoll@mail.wm.edu
http://www.swem.wm.edu/SpColl/RBMss/CityDirectory1898/smfrontcovernav.htm
Last updated December 13, 2002

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