using directories to help with my Newman, Stewart, Latimer, and Cook lines

I have never used directories before in genealogical research, but tonight the Brooklyn directories were a big help (accessing the ancestry.com database).

I have my William and Hannah (Westover) Newman. There was a William Newman who died in March of 1858 and his residence was "Park at Kent." I did not know if this was my William, but I thought there was a good chance that it was.

Tonight I discover that my Hannah Newman was living at 646 Myrtle St...which is basically the opposite side of the block from Park and Kent (if the block is a rectangle and the corners are labeled A, B, C, and D, it's like Park and Kent are the A point and 676 Myrtle is the C corner). Each directory year shows that the family kept moving, but usually within a few blocks of their previous address.

100% proof? No. But in my mind it's a 99.9% proof.

I've also been looking for the name of the husband of Frances E Newman. I know his last name is Latimer. Their son's (Charles O Latimer's) death certificate came today and I was very sad to see that the name of his parents are not on the certificate. :(  However, it does list the cemetery. I tried to contact them today, but they were already closed. I will try again tomorrow.

Now one of the reasons why I knew the death certificate that arrived today was the Charles O Latimer I was looking for is that his residence at the time of his death, 237 Duffield, goes with where his mother was living in 1888-89 (251 Duffield, according to the directory).

But, in looking at the directories and searching for Hannah Newman and her family (Mary Jane and David C Stewart, Frances E Latimer, and Catharine and John Cook), I see that in 1876 a Charles D. Latimer is living at 519 De Kalb, and so is Hannah Newman. So, now I'm trying to track down Charles D. Latimer and see if he is indeed married to Frances E Newman (I suppose there's a slight chance he's the father-in-law).

There is one confusion I'm having in reading the entries in the directory. The explanation says that sometimes the names of adult children are listed with the parents. The explanation didn't say anything about deceased spouses, yet I find this:

1876 Newman, Hannah, wid William 519 De Kalb av
1882 Latimer Fanny E wid Charles O dressmkr 471 Marcy Av
1888-89 F E Latimer widow Charles 251 Duffield
1889-90 Catharine Cook, widow John 404A Monroe

Interesting thing, there is a Charles D. Latimer that is listed in 1868, 1869, 1876, and 1877, and then I don't see him again. Frances/Fanny is first listed in 1878, so even though I thought her husband died before 1870 (he wasn't listed with them in the 1870 census), I guess he died around 1877-78.

So, I'm making some progress, though I still haven't figured out the death dates for most of the children and their spouses, but I am getting things narrowed down.