The letter c within parentheses on us city directories

AnthonyHopkins5

I kind of get the feeling that it means 'child' when a record is displayed like so. [" Henry C (c: willie).] with the rest being stuff that does not get indexed. I mainly infer this because both names are typically male. I recognize this as not an acceptable indexing indicator, so I'm coming here to ask. Is the stuff in parentheses really always spouse?

erutherford

This is from Project Instructions/What To Remember About This Project:

The following list of abbreviations may be used to determine other information that should not be indexed for each record.

• "apts": apartments
• "assn": association
• "av": avenue
• "bds": beds
• "bet": between
• "bldg": building
• "blk": block
• "blvd": boulevard
• "*" or "(c)": colored
• "h": house
• "mkr": maker
• "nr": near
• "r" or "rms": rooms
• "rd": road
• "wid": widow
• "wkr": worker

Áine Ní Donnghaile

That c stands for colored, the terminology used at the time to denote a person of color.

David Alan Webber

https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/comment/587945#Comment_587945

I had run into that on directories as well, but the way that the original poster is showing it doesn't seem as though it's being used in the same way?

That it occurs at all is certainly a little reminder of the culture of the time, isn't it?

Áine Ní Donnghaile

Most city directories make no reference to children. I've found a few small town directions that will have a number such as c:5 after the father's entry, indicating how many children in the family.

erutherford

We do not make assumptions about anything in indexing. Willie will be indexed in the spouse's fields. Willie was a popular female name, especially in the African American population, until about 1960.

https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/173967/the-letter-c-within-parentheses-on-us-city-directories

AnthonyHopkins5

Thanks for the information! and no worries, I did record 'willie' as the spouse in the end. I knew my logic was shaky and almost certainly flawed, but I wanted to run it past people like you who know cause if I have the question, other people likely will too. I really appreciate your attentiveness toward my questions, and sorry if I pop up on here too often with stupid questions.

David Alan Webber

https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/comment/588163#Comment_588163

There are No stupid questions here!

The least smart questions are the ones that never get asked, however. 🤓