 How can maps help? |
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Maps are made for many
reasons, and as a result, vary in content. Some
maps made for general purposes may show roads,
towns and cities, rivers and lakes, parks, and
State and local boundaries. New and old maps
often reveal changing place names, and they may
also show changes in the boundaries of nations
and their subdivisions. They rarely name
individual landowners or residents.
In the United States, birth, death, property, and
some other kinds of records are normally kept by
county governments. If you can name the place
where a kin lived, new or old maps of that place
may also show the county seat where useful data
about your kin may be obtained. Searches for data
about an ancestor are often complicated by
changes in the names and boundaries of places. GNIS
The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is
the Nation's official data base for place names.
GNIS is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey
and can often provide information on name
changes. This data base contains two million
entries. They include the names of places that no
longer exist as well as other or secondary names
for existing places.
This automated system also contains the names of
every type of feature except roads and highways.
It is especially useful for genealogical research
because it contains entries for very small and
scattered communities as well as churches and
cemeteries, including entries for those that no
longer exist.
Complete listings or special searches, for
example, for churches in a particular county, are
available in high-quality bound listings or on
magnetic media. There is a nominal charge for
this service.
The boundaries of many political jurisdictions
where early Americans lived have changed one or
more times. some American families lived in the
same locale for hundreds of years. Yet, the name
of the place may have changed over time. Many
counties have been subdivided several times, but
family records were most often kept where they
were originally filed.
This can greatly complicate your work. In one
case, for example, the place where a family lived
for the entire 19th century was over time part of
seven different counties. In such a case, you
might have to query all seven courthouses to
obtain data needed about members of the family.
Copies of records are rarely acquired by a
succeeding county.
Similar, but even more complex problems arise
when you must search for personal records in the
archives of faraway lands. The names and
boundaries of countries seem to be forever in
flux and many public and private record centers
disappear or move from place to place. Some
places are hard to find. . . . Some have
changed names one or more times. Some are too
small to be shown on a map or noted in a
gazetteer. And some are now ghost towns. Some of
these places may be noted on an old map. The
location of some others may be found in such
sources as lists of abandoned post offices, local
histories, government records, microfilm records
or clippings from old newspapers, old city
directories, or old county atlases kept in the
library or archives of a town, city, or county in
the region.
If you know the ward, district, neighborhood, or
street of a city where an ancestor lived, an old
map used in conjunction with a new map of the
city may expedite your search for needed facts.
Books that show changes in county boundaries can
help locate likely sources of records about
relatives.
A librarian near where you live may be able to
suggest someone who has access to such sources as
Map Guide to the US Federal Census, 1790-1920:
Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore, 1988.
This 445-page book shows all U.S. county
boundaries from 1790 to 1920. On each of nearly
400 maps, old county lines are superimposed over
modern ones to highlight boundary changes at 10
year intervals.
Separate books or papers have been published
about the "genealogy" of each of a
large number of States, counties, and other
areas.
It will be worthwhile to gain access to modern
and old maps of each ancestral site. You should
try to find an old map that shows an area as it
was close to the time your ancestor lived there.
National Gazetteer of the United States of
America, Concise 1990, U.S. Geological Survey
Professional Paper 1200-US: U.S. Government
Printing Office, Washington, 1990. Directories
of map collections Many libraries have the
current edition of The Map Catalog: Vantage
Press, a division of Random House, New York,
1990.
This handbook describes features and sources of a
worldwide range of new and old maps, atlases, and
related products. Has sections on researching old
maps, history maps, maps of the United States and
of foreign countries, State and provincial maps,
county maps, urban maps and city plans, boundary
maps, census maps, railroad maps, topographic
maps, and many other kinds of maps.
Map Collection in the United States and Canada: A
Directory: Special Libraries Association, New
York, 1984, 4th ed.
Guide to U.S. Map Resources, 2nd Edition:
American Library Association, Chicago, 1990.
Courtesy: U. S. Geological Survey Click
here for more information
on
using maps in genealogical research
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| Some Types of
Maps |
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Atlases A collection of
maps in book form. Sanborn
Fire Insurance Maps One of the most valuable
sources for monitoring and viewing urban change
are the fire insurance maps published in the
nineteenth century. These maps were drawn at the
scale of 1 inch = 50 ft (later 1 inch =100 ft)
which allowed very specific types of detail to be
shown. For example, street width, building
dimensions, the type of construction (frame,
brick, stone), number of floors, roof
composition, windows, elevators, wall
construction, and street address are all shown.
The fire insurance surveyors mapped the built-up
area, central business district, and surrounding
residential blocks for over 12,000 towns and
cities nationwide by the 1950's. Their
publication for urban areas continues today, and
it is reported that every town in the United
States with a population of 2,000 (in 1950) has
been mapped.
Gazetteers Gazetteers
give the location (longitude and latitude,
country, state, provience, etc.) of populated
places and natural features. Some descriptive
gazetteers also provide information about the
population, economy, history, and industry of a
given place.
Topographic Maps
Topographic maps display relief features, water
features, and cultural features. Large scale
topographic maps, such as 1:24,000 scale maps are
especially useful for areas where detailed
information is needed. These maps will show
detailed terrain and water features, major roads
and power lines, cultural features such as
schools, churches, cemeteries, dams, campsites,
and mines.
Thematic Maps Thematic
maps depict the distribution of a single
attribute or the relationship among several. They
cover such subjects as transportation and
communication, political and historical
geography, human and cultural geography,
vegetation, water resources, agriculture, land
use, public works, and regional or city planning
maps.
Aerial Photography &
Satellite Imagery Aerial Photography and
satellite imagery refer to images taken, vertical
or oblique, from an aircraft or orbiting
satellite.
Road Maps Road maps
show people how they can travel from one place to
another. They also show some physical features,
such as mountains and rivers, and political
features, such as cities and towns. A road map
also shows which roads are main highways
and which are smaller country roads.
Plat Maps Drawing of a
parcel of land--can include the name of the legal
owner and the boundaries.
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