Caveats and Limitations . . . .

Although considerable effort has been made to assure the accuracy and completeness of this directory, human error may still have occurred. Please bear in mind, however, that the inablity to locate an ancestor in the directory may have other causes.

• Your ancestor may have deliberately avoided being included in the directory. When historical context is considered, this is not as odd as it may sound. According to the preface of the 1864 directory, the canvassers:

  were pronounced by some to be 'United States Assessors,' seeking to fix on the people onerous taxes; and, by others, they were declared to be 'Enrolling Officers,' who were using their best efforts to obtain the name of every citizen for military purposes; and from these and other imaginary causes, delays and refusals in our Canvas were numerous.

• Your ancestor's name may be listed out of alphabetical order. The directory pages were transcribed as they appeared. In numerous instances, errors of alphabetization ocurred. To reduce the risk of missing an entry, consider using the "find," function of your web browser on an individual page (note- click somewhere on the page that contains the listings before using this function).
• Your ancestor's name may have been spelled differently. Consider all of the possible variations.
• Your ancestor was an African American- Needless to say, in this time period, African Americans were listed in a separate section of the directory. Unfortunately, I did not have copies of this section.

On the Lighter Side . . . .

In the process of transcribing and compiling this directory, a number of unusual names were observed. Sometimes only the first OR last name would be unique. On rare occasions, however, BOTH names were peculiar, and the combination noteable. Some of those deemed particularly worthy of mention are as follows:

• Fignortz Leppelburger
• Malachi Lally
• Origonal Herring
• Hilarius Stark
• Mutary Harkness
• Theophilus Munder
• Erasmus Peckel