Doing Research

In Sonoma County

Researching Directories for Sonoma County

The definition of a Directory is "a book listing individuals or organizations alphabetically or thematically with details

such as names, addresses, and phone numbers." City Directories can contain an alphabetized list of residents with

their addresses, spouse's names, professions and often a reverse lookup by address. They often also contain historical

information about a locale and they'll usually contain a separate business directory. There are also more focused business,

church, employment and school directories. All of these can be very useful in your genealogical research. 

Note: Links to directories at Ancestry.com are to the images themselves, which are browsable. Non-subscribers will not be able to view these.

Non-subscribers can, however, use the search engine and see a listing of possible results (but no images or further details). To search by name,

directory, year, or keyword, go to Ancestry's U.S. City Directories search engine. 

This website does not endorse or affiliate with any of the large profit based websites.

Directories

~ Business directory of San Francisco and principal towns of California and Nevada, 1877 containing names, business and address of merchants, manufacturers and professional men of the following cities and towns: Petaluma, Santa Rosa, Healdsburg, Cloverdale; alphabetically arranged under each town, and classified under heading of business. You can Search within the document for specific towns. [Internet Archive] . . . Link

~ Business directory of San Francisco and principal towns of California and Nevada, 1878 vol. 1: Containing names, business and address of merchants, manufacturers and professional men of the following towns: Petaluma, Santa Rosa, Healdsburg, Cloverdale; alphabetically arranged under each town, and classified under heading of business. You can Search within the document for specific towns. [Internet Archive] . . . Link

~ Business directory of San Francisco and principal towns of California and Nevada, 1878 vol. 2: Containing names, business and address of merchants, manufacturers and professional men of the following towns: Petaluma, Santa Rosa, Healdsburg, Cloverdale; alphabetically arranged under each town, and classified under heading of business. The Search Function does not seem to work for this document.

Useful pages: CA. Advertisements [p.510, image 568 of 1341.] . . .  [Internet Archive] . . . Link

~ California State Farmers Directory -- Sonoma County 1922-1923 [Archive.org]: . . . Link

"This Directory is intended for the use of Farmers, and contains a list of resident Farmers (owners and renters) of Sonoma County, California, giving Name, Section Number, Township, Range, Post Office Address, Assessed Valuation, Number of Acres Owned and other information."--T.p.

~ California Telephone Directory 1898: List Of Subscribers Of The Pacific Telephone And Telegraph CO. 

And Sunset Telephone And Telegraph CO.,  March 1898 [Golden Nugget Library] . . . Index Link

Towns listed as being in "Sonoma" in 1898:  Altruria. . . Asti . . . Bloomfield . . . Bodega . . . Cloverdale . . . Duncan Mills . . . Eldridge . . . Fisherman's Bay . . . Fisk's Mill . . . Forestville . . . Fort Ross . . . Fountain Grove . . . Freestone . . . Fulton . . . Geyserville . . . Glen Ellen . . . Guerneville   . . . Gwynn's Corner . . . Healdsburg . . . Kenwood . . . Lytton Springs . . . Moulton Hill . . . Peachland . . . Penn's Grove . . . Petaluma . . . Rules Ranch . . . Santa Rosa . . . Sebastopol . . . Shellville . . . Skagg's Spring . . . Sonoma . . . Stewarts Point . . . Timber Cove . . . Valley Ford . . . Vineyards . . Windsor

~ California, U.S., City Directories [Ancestry] . . . Link 

* Cloverdale (1938) . . .City Info . . .

* Healdsburg (1938) . . .

* Santa Rosa (1938, 1968, 1970) . . .

* Santa Rosa, Healdsburg, Sebastopol and Cloverdale (Combination, 1938). . .

* Sebastopol (1938) . . .

~ California, U.S., Railroad Employment Records, 1862-1950 [Ancestry] (Put this on here, since the Railroad was important to Sonoma County) . . . Link

~ California, U.S., Occupational Licenses, Registers, and Directories, 1876-1969 [Ancestry] . . . Link

~ City Directories at The Sonoma County Library Annex:

California city directories from 1850 on . . . Sonoma County Directories from 1874 on . . . More info Link

~ Directory of the Grape Growers: Wine Makers and Distillers of California, and of the Principal Grape Growers and Wine Makers of the Eastern States [1891]. Is your family into grape growing? This has a section for Sonoma County. . . . Link

~ McKenney's district directory of Yolo, Solano, Napa, Lake, Marin and Sonoma counties - 1878-1879: including all residents, with sketch of cities and towns; a new and prominent feature of this directory is the fact that every resident landowner in these six counties appears with the number of acres and Post Office address [Genealogy Gophers online] . . . Link . . . [Family History Library] Informational Link

~ McKenney's Pacific coast directory for 1883-4 [microform]: giving name, business, and address of business and professional men of California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, more.: together with sketches of the different towns : complete alphabetical lists of 3,000 cities and towns. You can Search within the document for specific towns. [Internet Archive] . . . Link

~ Pacific Coast business directory for 1867 [microform]: containing the name and post office address of each merchant, manufacturer and professional residing in the states of California, and some other states; also, a gazetteer of the counties, cities and towns, and an exhibit of the resources of the Pacific coast. You can Search within the document for specific towns. [Internet Archive] . . . Link

~ Pacific Coast business directory for 1876-1878: containing the name and post office address of each merchant, manufacturer and professional residing in the states of California, and other some states; also, a gazetteer of the counties, cities and towns, and an exhibit of the resources of the Pacific coast. You can Search within the document for specific towns. [Internet Archive] . . . Link

~ Pacific coast directory, for 1880-81 [microform]: containing names, business and address of merchants, manufacturers and professional men; county, city, state, territorial and federal officers, and notaries public, of California; complete classified and alphabetical lists, convenient for reference; 

Towns in this Directory: Alexander, Bloomfield, Cloverdale (pgs. 536-37), Donahue, Duncan’s Mills, Fisherman's Bay, Fisk's Mill, Forestville,  Fort Ross, Geyserville (pgs. 577-78), Glen Ellen, Healdsburg, Henry's, Lakeville, Litton Springs, Occidental, Petaluma (pgs. 699-702),      Santa Rosa (pgs. 813-17), Sebastopol (pgs. 818-19), Skagg’s Springs, Smith's Ranch (pgs. 822-23), Sonoma, Spanish Ranch, Still Water Cove, Stony Point, Timber Cove, Tyrone, Valley Ford, Windsor, Winsor (late insertion). You can Search within the document for specific towns. [Internet Archive] . . . Link . . . Link to Full Index . . . 

~ Mckenney's Pacific Coast Directory, 1878: (890 records) Mckenney's Pacific Coast Directory ... of Business And Professional Men of California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Nevada, Utah, Idaho And Montana. Title varies: 18 Searchable Business directories. [MyHeritage] . . . Link

~ Pacific coast directory, for 1884: containing names, business and address of merchants, manufacturers and professional men; county, city, state, territorial and federal officers, and notaries public, of California; complete classified and alphabetical lists, convenient for reference; You can Search within the document for specific towns. [Internet Archive] . . . Link

~ Pacific States newspaper directory, 1894: containing a carefully prepared list of all the newspapers and periodicals published in California, and some other states: arranged alphabetically by towns, and also by counties, with a brief description of each state, territory and county, making an invaluable guide to those who wish to place advertising to the best possible advantage. You can find a great description of Sonoma County here, with population numbers and other info. You can Search within the document for specific towns. [Internet Archive] . . .  Link

~ U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995 [Ancestry] . . . Link 

* Petaluma (1939, 1947, 1950, 1954, 1956, 1958, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1977, 1978)

* Santa Rosa (1903, 1905, 1908, 1909, 1911, 1913, 1915, 1918, 1926, 1929, 1930, 1935, 1938, 1947, 1949, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1979)

~ U.S., City Directories, 1860-1960 [MyHeritage] . . . Link

This collection is a huge genealogical compilation from 25,468 city directories published in 1860-1960 across the United States, created exclusively by MyHeritage using advanced machine learning technologies developed specifically for this purpose. It comprises 1,3 billion individual records that have been consolidated (to reduce duplication) to hundreds of millions of aggregated records, each featuring the same individual who lived in the same set of addresses during a span of years.

* Petaluma

~ U.S. California, Santa Rosa 1938 Polk's Santa Rosa City Directory (Viewable images) . . . Link

~ U.S., Index to Public Records, 1994-2019 [Ancestry] . . . Link

~ U.S., Phone and Address Directories, 1993-2002 [Ancestry] . . . Link

~ U.S., Public Records Index, 1950-1993, Volume 1 [Ancestry]: The U.S. Public Records Index contains more than 400 million public records of individuals who lived in the United States between 1950 and 1993. Although the original information is available to the public by contacting the appropriate agency, this searchable database simplifies the process. Individuals under the age of 18 are not included in this index . . . Link

~ U.S., Public Records Index, 1950-1993, Volume 2 [Ancestry]: The U.S. Public Records Index contains more than 400 million public records of individuals who lived in the United States between 1950 and 1993. Although the original information is available to the public by contacting the appropriate agency, this searchable database simplifies the process. Individuals under the age of 18 are not included in this index . . . Link

~ United States Public Records, 1970-2009 [MyHeritage] . . . Link

This collection is an index of names, birthdates, addresses, phone numbers, and possible relatives of people who reside in the United States between 1970 and 2009, although there are a few records outside this range. These records were generated from telephone directories, property tax assessments, credit applications, and other records available to the public.

~ White Pages and Yellow Pages, Sonoma County [Library of Congress online]:

* August 1934 thru August 1941 . . . Link

* August 1942 thru August 1945 . . . Link

* August 1946 thru August 1948 . . . Link

* July 1949 thru February 1951 . . . Link

* February 1952 thru February 1953 . . . Link

* February 1954 thru February 1955 . . . Link

* September 1956 thru September 1958 . . . Link

* September 1959 thru September 1960 . . . Link

* September 1961 thru September 1962 . . . Link

* September 1963 . . . Link

Voter Registrations

~ 1890 Great Register of Voters, Sonoma County, California. [Sonoma County Genealogical Society] . . . Link 

~ California, U.S., Voter Registers, 1866-1898. Sonoma County [Ancestry]: 1867-1890 . . . 1892-1896 . . . 1898 . . . Link

~ California, U.S., Voter Registrations, 1900-1968. Sonoma County [Ancestry]: 

. . . 1900-1912 . . 1914-1922 . . 1924-1930 . . 1932-1936 . . 1938-1940 . . 1942-1944 . . . Link

Individual Families or Peoples Research

~ Finleys, Heads and McFarlings in the Sonoma County, California, Great Register of Voters, 1867-1896 . . . Link

Other Websites That Collect Resources

~  Online Historical Directories : Sonoma County . . . . Sonoma Specific . . .  Site's Homepage . . .