US—City Directories, 1902–1935 [Part B] [MQNQ-SMT]
Directories commonly indicate spouses in two ways. A woman whose spouse is alive, or a man whose wife is alive, will have the spouses name in parentheses. If it's a woman and she is widowed, her spouse's name will still appear after the term "wid John" or some such.
The directions I'm seeing often is to index the one type where the spouse is still living and the name is in parentheses but to not index the one where the spouse's name appears after the term "wid." I'm confused. It seems appropriate to index names in both occasions; this would provide at least the first name or initials of a woman who had a living spouse at one time. That information may be crucial in directing someone's research. Just wondering why the name of the deceased spouse is not indexed. Thanks!
Answers
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Simply put: it's what the Project Instructions call for. In part A, the deceased spouse was indexed. Part B is a little more streamlined. Gone is the Directory Place and living spouses are given the surname of their spouse even though they do not have the surname listed.
A more complex answer: because the researcher will be able (possibly, this project is mostly under lock and key at the FS Center or at affiliated libraries) to see that, at the time of publication, great uncle Joe was dead.
Even better answer: don't think too much about it. It'll drive you nuts.
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Ha! That's the best answer I can think of. Actually, if I could have thought of that I wouldn't have asked the question, but it is a great answer. The last line. 😉
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