My Genealogical Journey to Hudson, NY, Part 6

If I were to give one piece of advice regarding using city directories for family history research, it would be "Don't stop!" Continue your search through directories several years before and after you think your family would have been in the area. You may be pleasantly surprised. 

508 State Street, Hudson, NY

When I first began my Hudson research I knew that:

• my great grandfather, Saul, arrived in the New York Harbor on 23 November 1891 [1]
• Hoda, Nina, Joe, and Ben landed at Ellis Island on 1 June 1897 [2]
• the family was in Hudson for the 1900 U.S. Federal Census [3]
• The family was in New York City in the 1910 U.S. Federal Census [4]

I did not know when they'd arrived in Hudson and I did not know when they'd left. 

I ordered a couple of rolls of Family History Library microfilm and checked every Hudson City directory from 1891 through 1910. After I did not find the Wilson's in the 1905 directory, I kept on checking. And it was good I did. In 1906, Joe Wilson was listed living as a boarder at 508 State Street. [5] He was about 16 years old. The rest of his family was not in Hudson.

Unfortunately, the 1906 city directory did not list what Joe was doing in Hudson - whether he was still a student or was working. But, I think, based upon some prior analysis of newspaper records  and the 1940 Census, that Joe had probably ended his school days in Albany in 1905 and was probably living with friends in Hudson. After 1906 he seems to disappear again until he shows up in the 1910 U.S. Census with his whole family at 1408 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York. [6]

[29 August 2021 Update: after further research, I am not at all sure that the Joseph Wilson listed in the 1906 Hudson directory is my grandfather. I have not found him elsewhere, but other records seem to indicate that the Joseph in the 1906 directory might have been a bit older than my grandfather. Further research needed.]

Notes
1. "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 20 October 2008), manifest, Polaria, Stettin, Germany to New York, arriving 23 November 1891, passenger 196, Selig Wilenski, citing National Archives Microfilm Serial M237.

2. "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 7 September 2009), manifest, Pisa, Hamburg to New York, arriving 1 June 1897, list 7, Hode, Nachame, Josef and Benjamin Wilensky, citing National Archives Microfilm Serial M237.

3. 1900 U.S. Census, Columbia County, New York, population schedule, Hudson, Enumeration District 19, sheet 8A, dwelling 126, Family 172, Cyrus Wilson; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 10 August 2008).
4. 1910 U.S. Census, New York County, New York, population schedule, New York City, Enumeration District 489, sheet 19A, dwelling 40, Family 403, Saul Wilson; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 January 2012).
5. J.H. Lant Hudson City, Claverack and Stottville Directory for 1906 (Hudson, NY: Bryan Printing Co., 1903), page 138 , Family History Library microfilm 1,759,798.
6. 1910 U.S. Census