What Happened to Rebecca Ahern?

Crocker-Langley San Francisco Directory for the Year Commencing May 1904, (San Francisco, California: H.S. Crocker Company, 1904), page 171. From Ancestry.com

Crocker-Langley San Francisco Directory for the Year Commencing May 1905, (San Francisco, California: H.S. Crocker Company, 1905), page 1180. From Ancestry.com

City directories are a great resource for solving all sorts of genealogical problems.  Here’s one way you can use them to narrow down a marriage date – and even find the husband! – when a woman marries.

My great-great uncle, Henry Ahern, was married to Rebecca Calkins sometime in the early 1890s.  I haven’t been able to find the marriage record, but their boys, William Henry and James Bernard were born in 1894[1] and 1896.[2]  A few years later, Henry passed away.[3]
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Rebecca Ahern, widow, appears in the 1900 San Francisco City Directory residing at 2770 21st, the same address mentioned in Henry’s obituary.[4]  In 1901, she appears in the San Francisco directory residing at 1790 Folsom,[5] and she continues to live at the same address in 1902,[6] 1903[7] and 1904, where she is listed as working in a bakery[8].  Also living at the same address in 1901-1905 is Rebecca’s widowed mother, Nora Calkins.

No listing Rebecca Ahern appears in the 1905 San Francisco directory.  But a search using the address, 1790 Folsom, turns up a Mrs.  Rebecca Macy, working in a bakery.  At the same address is Orlando Macy, a blacksmith.[9] 

With the information from the directories, I was able to narrow down the time frame in which Rebecca Ahern remarried and the name of her husband.  A newspaper announcement in August of 1904 shows a marriage license issued for Orlando Macy, 1716 Folsom street, age 36, and Rebecca Ahern, 1719 Folsom street, age 32.[10] 

Try searching city directories by address as well as by name.  You might just solve one of your vexing genealogical questions!


[1]"California Death Index, 1940-1997," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VPNJ-CJD : 26 November 2014), William H Ahern, 19 Sep 1977; Department of Public Health Services, Sacramento.
[2]"California Death Index, 1940-1997," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VPCW-G3P : 26 November 2014), James B Ahern, 08 Jul 1957; Department of Public Health Services, Sacramento.
[3] “Deaths: Ahern,” San Francisco Chronicle, 16 February 1900, p. 10, col. 4.
[4] Crocker-Langley San Francisco Directory for the Year Commencing May 1900, (San Francisco, California: H.S. Crocker Company, 1900), 170. From  Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
[5] Crocker-Langley San Francisco Directory for the Year Commencing May 1901, (San Francisco, California: H.S. Crocker Company, 1901), 170. From  Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011
[6] Crocker-Langley San Francisco Directory for the Year Commencing May 1902, (San Francisco, California: H.S. Crocker Company, 1902), 170. From  Fold3.com.
[7] Crocker-Langley San Francisco Directory for the Year Commencing May 1903, (San Francisco, California: H.S. Crocker Company, 1903), 170. From  Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011
[8] Crocker-Langley San Francisco Directory for the Year Commencing May 1904, (San Francisco, California: H.S. Crocker Company, 1904), 171. From  Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011
[9] Crocker-Langley San Francisco Directory for the Year Commencing May 1905, (San Francisco, California: H.S. Crocker Company, 1905), 1180. From  Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011
[10] “Marriages Licenses,” San Francisco Chronicle, 21 August 1904, p. 47, col. 6.  Note, although the newspaper shows Rebecca’s address as 1719 Folsom, this may be a “sound-alike” error and should likely be 1790 Folsom per the city directory information.

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