May Day: Everyone Get Moving!

May 1, 2023

Moving Day: When ALL New Yorkers moved on May 1st

May 1st sounds like it was a nightmare in New York City! I’m glad my ancestors lived in lightly populated county areas. The one thing genealogists should remember about this Moving Day craziness it that it effects the evidence genealogists use to search family histories, namely city directories. For instance, the Brooklyn City and Business Directory bears the date “the Year Ending May 1st, 1869.”[1]

[1] George T. Lain, comp., Brooklyn City and Business Directory for The Year Ending May 1^st, 1869 (New York, N.Y.: Lain & Co., 1868).

About Author

Vanessa Wood is a genealogical researcher and writer specializing in American family history, with particular depth in Southern states, California, and families with roots in the United Kingdom. She is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) and the National Genealogical Society (NGS), and holds a Certificate in Genealogical Research from Boston University. She is a First Prize winner of the 2026 Montana Family History Writing Contest and has 25+ published articles in journals including the National Genealogical Society Quarterly. Vanessa is the author of Pryor Wives: Stories of Family, Fortune, and Fiasco (2023), Board in Venice (2025), and The Kinship Papers, Vol. 1. Her books are available on Amazon.com. She can be contacted via email.