I'm doing some genealogy research and have come across several addresses in the Pendleton neighborhood that my ancestors lived in during the latter half of the 19th century. The addresses were obtained from old city directories. The issue that I'm having is that the addresses do not seem to match up with any current addresses I am finding on Google.  I am specifically looking for 55 Woodward Street and 102 Abigail. I originally thought Woodward was in reference to the current Woodward but discovered that 13th Street, east of Main was once Woodward (and the current Woodward was once Franklin). Abigail was once the name of 12th Street east of Main Street. Neither of these addresses are in the current address range found east of Main. I was hoping someone might have a little insight on this.

Do Sanborn maps show addresses?

Addresses were changed around 1897.  Before then Main was the divider instead of Vine.  Let me see...

You will want to consult Sanborn maps for old addresses, as Rabbit Hash pointed out the system was changed. They are available online here: http://www.oplin.org/content/sanborn-maps

I did a blog post about this issue. You can read about it here:

 

http://www.citykin.com/2011/04/old-addresses.html

Dunno if the Titus maps might help

http://www.davidrumsey.com/

For some reason my access to the oplin is not working so I will have to guess based on accessing Sanborns post 1897.  The key point is that you are looking prior to 1897.  Assuming that, it clarifies some of the conflicts you have.

 

For 55 Woodward, I would guess you would be looking on the south side of 13th Street b/w Spring and Pendleton.

For 102 Abigail, I would guess the north side of 12th Street b/w Pendleton and Reading.  Almost all the way to Reading.

parcel numbers are just parcel numbers. I believe that's what the County Recorder uses.

THAT site is a PITA.

The maps from 1891 have the old addresses, but I couldn't quite make out the addresses on them.  The site is a pain to navigate but if you can manage to browse directly to this sheet you should be able to spot both of the addresses you're looking for: 1891 Volume 2 - Sheet 68

 

Here's a link, though I'm not sure if it will work or not:

 

http://sanborn.ohioweblibrary.org.proxy.oplin.org/viewer/?id=4981

 

Here's the PNG: http://sanborn.ohioweblibrary.org.proxy.oplin.org/images/Reel09/6645/00207.png

 

*Edit: Looks like 102 Abigail is still there possibly (now part of 408 E. 12th), but 55 Woodward (now 313 E. 13th) is now the parking lot across from the old SCPA.

This book by the chick who does Digging Cincinnati History might help.

http://www.amazon.com/Finding-Your-Homes-Ancestors-Researching/dp/1493536028/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389897861&sr=8-1&keywords=finding+your+home%27s+ancestors

When I mentioned parcel numbers I meant numbers like

200-0052-0130-00

If you visit her blog, I think she discloses exactly how she does it.  City directories, Sanborns, Ancestry.com, etc.

 

I'm curious to see what you learn.  Keep us posted.

The city directories are available on the Library's website as searchable PDFs. It used to be a pain trying to find a particular street or address because the directories are in alphabetical order by surname - making it easy to find a particular person, but tough to find history on any given building. The searchable PDFs are great.

 

Link: http://virtuallibrary.cincinnatilibrary.org/virtuallibrary/vl_citydir.aspx

poking around in this stuff today, I found the guy who owned my house from 46 to 56 also used to live across the street from an apartment I used to live in.

pretty weird - Me & Elmer....

If I manage to wind up in Bridgetown, I'm gonna freak out.