We are happy to hand you this copy of the 1941 Cody Family Handbook- Directory. On three previous occasions our family organization has produced directories, and it is only by the wholehearted support of our members and the devotion to duty of our officers that this present enlarged publication has been made possible. We feel you will be proud of your copy and we hope you will draw to our attention any errors; we have checked against errors to the best of our ability, but in a production of this size it is easy for an error to slip by.
       The historical data in this book is the result of years of intensive research and study on the part of Miss Lydia S. Cody, Chairman of the Cody Family Historical Board, assisted in research by Luther M. Cody. Perhaps better than anyone I know of the work and study given to this subject by Miss Lydia Cody over the passing years. Our treasury was never able to do very much for her in this work, and many a personal sacrifice did she make in furthering the search for additional information concerning our early beginning in this North American continent. To her we owe much, and we hope that the satisfaction with which the result of her effort is received, will bring her in a small way some reward of duty well done.
       The directory material of this book was assembled and prepared for publication by me. From almost every family I received the finest of co-operation, and I do thank you sincerely for that splendid assistance. A few families while given every possible opportunity of submitting their material declined to do so, and of necessity, they have not been included in the printed page; no one regrets this more than I do.
       In previous directories we did not include the dead except when they left descendants; in this book all deceased members of our family are included. Another feature of this book is the inclusion of the name in full of the wife or husband of the Cody descendant. Another valuable feature of this publication is the index of names at the back; it is not a complete index of every name because financially it would have been prohibitive to index fully. The index does include the names of every living, adult descendant. By adult is meant everyone twenty-one years of age and upward. The exceptions to this are that any child under twenty-one who is married is indexed; also the name of the late Colonel William Frederick Cody is carried in the index for ready reference.
       In the preparation of this book, my thanks go out especially to the members of our Board of Directors who assisted in any way possible. We are very grateful to Mrs. Mary Jester Allen, Chairman of the Cody Family Memorial Board and Director of the Buffalo Bill Memorial Museum at Cody, Wyoming. For nearly fifteen years she has had charge of Museum activities at Cody; to her belongs the initial credit of launching the Cody Family as an organization and to her untiring and ceaseless personal effort is due the success of the Museum. In her busy life she has taken the time to interest herself in historical and genealogical matters, and in Appendix E will be found her interesting story of the Museum at Cody, Wyoming.