Source Information

Sewell, Patricia, comp. Missoula and Ravalli Counties, Montana Directory, 1903-04 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000.
Original data:

  • Missoula and Hamilton City Directory. Montana: R.L. Polk and Co., 1903
  • .

  • Missoula and Ravalli County Directory 1903. Helena, Montana: R. L. Polk and Co., 1903.
  • About Missoula and Ravalli Counties, Montana Directory, 1903-04

    In 1903-1904 Missoula and the Bitter Root Valley were famed for their active lumbering industry, mining, farming, and fruit-growing businesses. It was a time of prosperity in Western Montana and many people were moving to and from the area. This city directory accounts for the people who lived in Missoula and Ravalli Counties during that time.
    Included in the entries are: the names of the people; their occupations; the cities in which they lived; many death dates; survivor information; and information on people who had moved to other areas of the country. In the taxpayer sections, the entries list: the names of the people; their status as to whether they were farm owners or farm tenants; the location of their land, including range, township, and section, and the amount of acres; the city; and the taxable valuation of their land.
    This database will be useful to people researching western Montana during the very early 1900's and those searching for ancestors who may have lived here during that time.

    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).