In the near total absence of official records of convention proceedings, local newspapers furnished the list of state delegates. Information on occupations appeared in city directories published in the same year as the state convention. Directories published the year after the state convention were consulted for delegates who were not found in the previous edition. Some names appeared without an occupation. In about half these cases, a directory published two or four years earlier revealed an occupation that was the one assigned for this study. Individuals traced back in earlier directories had to retain the same address. Persons with “No Occupation” in Figures 2.3 and 2.4 and Tables 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3 either had no occupation listed in the directory over a period of four years or, more commonly, could not be located in the earlier editions.

When the names appearing in each source exactly match, as they do in most instances, record linkage was simple and reasonably sure. There were a number of “close fits” that required a judgment call. In the interest of consistency and of mitigating subjectivity, the following guidelines determined when a match from the newspapers and directories was inferred:

1. First and last names had to conform – with rare allowances for variations on abridged first names or common nicknames; for example, “Augustus” in one source appears as “Gus” in the other.

2. When more than one individual with a given name appeared in the directory, an address singled out the individual living in or near (within 1 block) of the appropriate ward.

3. […]