Wiggins' Directory of Portage County for 1880* was one of many Ohio city and county directories published by J. Wiggins & Co. (sometimes Wiggins & McKillop or Wiggins & Weaver) in the 1870s, 1880s and 1890s. The copy I used for this project was bound with Wiggins' Directory of Mahoning County for 1879-80.

The township information, consisting of names only, sometimes with reference to a person's agent or heirs, seems to have been taken from tax rolls or other public records. It's reasonable to assume, however, that the Ravenna, Kent and Garrettsville information was gathered door-to-door. Perhaps the same canvass produced sales by subscription and to advertisers.

A brief editorial note. Errors abound in the published directory. Many trivial errors of punctuation and spelling were corrected without comment. A few period spellings were let stand. Names, however, were handled with greater caution. In instances where context and usage seemed to require a particular correction, the text was corrected, followed by an asterisk and a footnote containing the incorrect original. In instances where something seemed merely questionable--or even obviously wrong, but without support for a particular correction--[sic] was used instead.

The directory contains a few pages of block advertisements printed on very thin, translucent colored paper. Those pages, which suggest some of the charm of the era, unfortunately are not reproduced here.

* "1879. J. WIGGINS, PRINTER, STATIONER AND BINDER, WELLSVILLE, OHIO" per the title page.