Good Morning John,



Yes...   I have always took the abbreviations to mean: 



"Bds" = represents "boards" or "room & boards"   

"H" or "R" = represents "home address" or "resides" who in other words owned the property.  



I will put in the caveat that they might have made a mistake when they put the abbreviations beside the names.   The directory worker might have been confused and mislabeled the individual's residential status. 



If you need to be sure, I would recommend looking at the land tax/property tax records for that year.  It would tell you who owned the property at that time.   



I hope this information helps.



Have a wonderful day!



Sincerely,



Troy Valos

Local History and Genealogy Specialist

Sargeant Memorial Collection

Slover Memorial Library

235 East Plume Street

Norfolk, Virginia 23510

Email: [log in to unmask]



-----Original Message-----

From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John Cullom Sr.

Sent: Saturday, February 27, 2016 10:43 AM

To: [log in to unmask]

Subject: [VA-HIST] Definition-question



Good Morning,

I am looking at a 1901 Dallas City Directory. Every word possible is abbreviated so every entry is one line I suppose, i.e., "r" = "residence" & "bds" = "boards". (They supply a list of abbreviations used fortunately.) Question: "r" for residence is clear enough but what does bds = boards mean? "room & board" normally means a "room with meals" supplied for payment. But none of the entries with "bds" indicate an "r" for residence. In their quest for brevity did they mean for "bds" to stand for "room & board"? Thanks. 

John Cullom

Westminster, MD 



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