The Sherman Room has an impressively extensive selection of city directories, dating back to 1858. The older city directories are similar to what most of us would recognize as a phone book, but many of the directories predate the popularization of the telephone. These early directories are very useful for those interested in researching an address to see what or who may have occupied any building there in the past, but they are equally useful for gathering information about individuals and businesses. Unlike their phone book descendants, city directories will often list an individual’s residence, occupation, place of work, and spouse’s first name if they were married. The impetus for following Louis Loiselle into Mexico actually came from the city directories. Not long after Loiselle opened his bakery in Mansfield, he began utilizing the directory as a sort of aggressive advertising campaign for the bakery, placing short one-line promotions on the top right margin of every other page. I was going through the oldest directories in our collection to check them for damage and while I was doing that, I was looking at all of Loiselle’s ads. He was promoting cakes, ice cream, bread, and chocolate drops, which are all common and expected products for a bakery, but then I started seeing promotions for cigars and oysters. I needed to know about this cigar and oyster bakery, which led me to our digital newspaper collections where I found mostly advertisements for the bakery but also an intriguing article from The Mansfield News dated October 2, 1908. In this article, Mr. and Mrs. L. N. Loiselle are leaving for Juanita “in the southern peninsula of Mexico . . . where Mr. Loiselle is under a ten year contract to manage a cattle and sugar cane plantation.”1 Of course, not every venture into the city directories will yield such a crazy historical mystery to be solved, but there is still much to be gained from bringing the directories into your research. Today, let’s revisit Mr. Loiselle and see what we can learn about him and his business by tracking him through the years of the Mansfield City Directory.
1886-1887: Louis Loiselle’s name first appears in the city directory. He is listed as a travelling salesman for John W. Wagner, a wholesale and retail hardware business with locations at 9 N Park and 18 E Third. Loiselle’s residence is listed as w s Vennum av 3 south of Marion avenue.
1888-1889, 1891: For these next few years, Loiselle is simply listed as a traveling salesman. His residence in 1888-1889 is listed as 4 Vennum Ave while in 1891, it’s listed as 10 Vennum Avenue.
We have a gap in our collection between 1891 and 1894 but research in other sources tells us Loiselle invested in his own baking business in 1893. In the 1894 directory, we begin seeing the fruits of Loiselle’s fairly aggressive advertising campaign for his bakery. The directory lists three locations for the business: 7-9-11 N Sugar, 3, 159-161 N Main. Loiselle had also moved his residence close to the bakery, according to the directory, with his address now listed as 9 N Sugar.
1895-1896: We are introduced to Loiselle’s wife, Sarah E. Loiselle is listed as a “baker, confectioner, and ice cream.” The business now has a location at 8 N Diamond but nothing on Main St anymore. Loiselle’s residence has moved to 7 N Sugar. This directory is also the first time we see any mention of cigars as the bakery. One advertisement proclaims “Loiselle Carries a Fine Line of Cigars.”
1897-1898: There are no changes to Loiselle’s personal or business listing, but we are introduced to Loiselle’s newest product: oysters. “Oysters. Raw, Fried, Plain and Milk Stews in Season at Loiselle’s.”
1899: Loiselle’s wife is inaccurately listed as Sadie E. Loiselle is now a caterer, baker, confectioner, and ice cream manufacturer with an oyster wholesale and retail business, bakery, and ice cream factory. The bakery has expanded to 7-17 N Sugar with a branch store at 161 N Main and an office and sales room at 8 N Diamond.
1901: Loiselle’s wife is erroneously listed as Sadie F. It’s possible the oysters were not a great success in a land locked area in the middle of the country because that wholesale and retail business is no longer listed. Loiselle is still a caterer, baker, confectioner, and ice cream manufacturer with a bakery and ice cream factory. The bakery is now listed at 7-17 N Franklin Ave, which indicates the name of Sugar Street was changed. With the change to Sugar Street, Loiselle’s residential address also changed to 7 N Franklin. The store and office retain the same addresses.
1902: For many of the prior directories, Loiselle was simply listed as “Loiselle, L. N.” Here, he is Lewis N. but his wife is correctly Sarah again. He is a caterer, baker, confectioner, and ice cream manufacturer. The bakery is still at 7-17 N Franklin Avenue but the branch store at 161 N Main is no longer listed. The office and main store are still at 8 N Diamond. This is also the first year that Loiselle’s bakery does not occupy the top right margin of every other page in the directory.
1904: We see the introduction of Loiselle’s Bread and Milk Company at 7-19 N Franklin Ave with a store at 8 N Diamond. B.J. Balliett is listed as president of this company, J.E. Gibson as vice president, F. W. Bloor secretary, and L.N. Loiselle treasurer and general manager. The company was a manufacturer and dealer in bread, cakes, ice cream, milk, and butter. Loiselle’s wife is once again listed incorrectly as Sadie F. His residence is now listed as 25 Franklin Avenue.
1906: No changes other than Loiselle’s wife being listed as Sadie E.
1908: This is the final year Loiselle is listed until 1926. The Loiselle Bread and Milk Co lists M L Loiselle as the proprietor which is surely an inverted mislabeling of L N Loiselle since his personal listing right below the listing for the business states he is the proprietor of Loiselle’s B & M Co. D L Maxwell is listed as the company’s assistant manager and the company is labeled as “Bakers Pasteurizers of milk cream and ice cream manufacturers.” The business address is now 17-21 N Franklin Avenue. Loiselle’s home is still 25 Franklin Avenue, but his wife is Sarah E once again.
If the directories were the only source that you were looking at, Loiselle’s absence between 1908 and 1926 would surely raise some questions and prompt you to seek information in other sources.
1926-1927: Loiselle is listed correctly as Louis N with his wife properly being listed as Sarah E. His occupation is listed as a clerk for the Charles Hoffman Co., a business specializing in plumbing, heating, and sheet metal work. Loiselle and his wife are listed as living at 49 S Mulberry.
1928-1929: Louis N Loiselle, with wife Sarah E., is simply listed as a clerk living at 282 W 4th.
1930-1931: Loiselle has a new business. He is the proprietor of Loiselle’s, a business dealing in proprietary medicines, cigars, confectionary, soft drinks, and news, located at 16 N Diamond. This new business had a prominent advertisement on the directory’s front cover that, sadly, was not retained when the directory was rebound at some point. Louis and Sarah are listed as living at #9 in the Ford Building at 14 1/2 N Diamond.
1932-1933, 1934-1935: No changes.
1936-1937: Louis and Sarah moved to 32 N Diamond.
1937: Louis and Sarah are still listed as living at 32 N Diamond, but there is no longer a listing for Loiselle’s business, which suggests the business was lost or sold.
1938: No changes.
1939: Louis and Sarah are now listed as living at 488 Spring Mill.
1939 is the last we hear of Louis and Sarah in the city directories. Louis passed away in their home at 488 Springmill Street on June 24, 1939.2 Sarah died at the General hospital on December 26, 1941. Unlike Louis’ obituary, Sarah’s acknowledges her brief time in Mexico, stating, “Born in Illinois in 1859, she had lived in Mansfield over fifty years, with the exception of a few years spent in Mexico.”3
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