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Subject: [CASanDiego] James B. LIGGETT 1930 forward
Date: 1 Oct 2002 19:20:09 -0600


This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list.

Surnames: LIGGETT, PROCTOR, STELZER, WOODWORTH
Classification: Query

Message Board URL:

http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/SW.2ADI/781.3

Message Board Post:

Hi Jacquie - I finally have a few brief moments to leave this posting. As it turned out I was looking in the wrong place, my search being driven by the Palm City information. Palm City is in the South Bay as mentioned in my other posts, but while your grandfather had a chicken farm in Palm City the majority of his business interests were right in downtown San Diego.

Examining my earliest San Diego City Directory, 1930, I found the following entry on page 453, right column: "Liggett & Stelzer (name of a business) ( J B Liggett L A Stelzer)(proprietors of the business) bldg contrs (nature of business - building contractors) 730 E (business address, San Diego)".
There is no phone listed which is not at all unusual for the soon to be "Great Depression" era. If the business entity Liggett & Stelzer were incorporated, business records may exist. More on that later.

Did James B. LIGGETT have any other relatives in San Diego that went by the name of "Howard C. LIGGETT" (wife Anna)or "Ruel H. LIGGETT" (wife Bess) in the 1930's?

Continuing in the same directory, in the address cross directory on page 816, left column is found the following entry: "E - 730 Liggett & Stelzer bldg contrs". The address is also a shared with "E - 730 Woodworth C N real est (real estate)". This may be someone that your grandfather might have been in business with. More on that later.

You had mentioned James B. LIGGETT had a relative that owned a lumber yard. Actually James B. LIGGETT and Louis A. STELZER owned their own lumber yard. On page 656, left column is the following entry: "Southern Lumber Co (Liggett & Stelzer)(owners) 1301 S Highland av". The address cross directory on page 856, right column has the following entry: "Highland Av, South 1301 Southern Lumber Co". The lumber company may have been incorporated, and if so corporate records may still exist with the California Corporation Commission.

On page 664, right column is the following entry: "Stelzer Louis A (Bertha)(spouse) (Liggett & Stelzer)(business owned) h (h -head of household, children or other relations may be present) 425 Southlook av". In the address cross directory on page 946, middle column is the following entry: "Southlook Av 425 Stelzer L A (o)(o - owner of the property listed)". Sometimes business partners are also related. If Louis A. or Bertha STELZER are related to James B. LIGGETT, it might be interesting to trace the property ownership of 425 Southlook Avenue backward and forward in time to discern who owner the property over the years. Also, as a owner of this property, property tax and land records would exist and as most property owners are registered voters, voter registration records can be a good source of genealogical information as well.

On page 936, center column of the address cross directory is the following listing: "Ray - 3546 Liggett J B (o)." This is also significant information as not only do property and land records exist along with possible voter registration records, but now you know exactly where to find your grandfather in the 1930 Federal census images that are already posted at Ancestry.com. Back on page 453, right column is: "Liggett Jas B (James)(Hattie E) (Liggett & Stelzer) h 3546 Ray".

In the classified section, page 1081, right column is "Contractors - Building - General Liggett & Stelzer 730 E". On page 1127, right column is "Lumber - Retail Southern Lumber Co 1301 S Highland av".

This concludes a review of the 1930 directory. I checked the addresses at Mapquest.com to see if they were still active and not "built over" by some development. The addresses for the properties on Ray, Southlook and E are all still active and may still have the 1930 era building standing. The lumber yard on South Highland appears to be gone, possibly swallowed up by some big project for re-development. If you wanted to capture a picture of these properties, apparently that opportunity still exists for 3 of the 4.

My next directory is 1941 and I'll do another posting as I have some more spare time.

Glen F. Pritchett, USGENWEB volunteer


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