Using Maps in Genealogy
Fact Sheet 099-02 (September 2002)
|| Getting Started ||
How Maps Can Be Useful ||
Finding the Right Maps ||
|| Gathering Other
Resources || Followup Hints
|| Acknowledgments ||
|| More Information ||
Maps are one of the many sources you may need to
complete a family tree.
In genealogical research, maps can provide clues to where our
ancestors may have lived and where to look for written records
about them. Beginners should master basic genealogical research
techniques before starting to use topographic maps.
Introductory books on genealogy suggest timesaving
ways to plan, gather, organize, and record findings.
To learn basic genealogical research techniques, it's best to
start with the most concise, easy-to-read books, gazetteers,
articles, pamphlets, and other sources that apply directly to
the kind of research you plan to do.
Books on the shelves of your local library may not include
those that will best serve your purpose. However, many libraries
and bookstores have the latest edition of Books in Print.
Its subject guide gives the titles, authors, publishers, and
prices of hundreds of books on genealogy.
Many libraries also have directories that give the names and
addresses of local, State, regional, and national associations
of genealogists, historians, and ethnic groups.
You may also find a copy of the pamphlet Where to Write
for Birth, Death, Divorce, and Marriage Records. If not,
you can purchase a copy from the
U.S. Government Printing
Office, Washington, DC 20402.
Finally, online searching on terms such as "genealogy"
through any of the major World Wide Web search engines
(including www.yahoo.com,
www.google.com, and
www.infoseek.com) or
online bookstores can direct you to Web sites and other
resources that can help.
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Once you've gathered as many facts about family
history and customs as possible, turn to maps to uncover more
specific information or to solve historical "mysteries."
Old and new maps can help you track down facts about a branch
of your family. How? In the United States, birth, death,
property, and some other kinds of records are normally kept by
the county governments. If you can name the place where an
ancestor lived, new or old maps of that place may also show the
county seat where useful data about your kin can be obtained.
Old maps can be particularly useful in this regard because
pinpointing the name of the place where an ancestor lived can be
like trying to hit a moving target. Many towns, counties,
cities, and even countries have experienced numerous name
changes over the years.
Though their names have changed, some of these places may be
noted on an old map. The location of some others may be found in
sources such 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 archives of a town, city, or county in the
region.
If you find unfamiliar place names during your
search, the U. S. Geological Survey can help.
The
Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is the Nation's
official data base of place names. The GNIS is maintained by the
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and can often provide information
on name changes. This data base contains 2 million entries,
including the names of places that no longer exist, as well as
variant 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
communities, as well as for churches and cemeteries, even those
that no longer exist.
Constantly changing place names are not the only challenge;
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,
their homes may have been swapped back and forth a number of
times between different political jurisdictions—;towns,
provinces, States, or countries.
This can greatly complicate your work. In one case, for
example, the place where a family lived for the entire 19th
century was at various times 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. Records or
copies of records were 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.
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To find useful maps, you must have strong clues as to
where and when your ancestors lived.
The best maps for your purpose are ones that:
- show in great detail an area around the place where your
relative lived;
- show its location within a county or other jurisdiction;
and
- name and show the borders of neighboring areas.
A plat book in a town hall or county courthouse or an old
fire insurance map may show an outline of your ancestor's house
and its placement on you ancestor's property.
Such maps should help you picture where your relatives were
born, resided, attended school, worked, shopped, voted, traveled
over land or water, courted, married, raised families, and were
laid to rest. You may need later maps of the same area or other
places to track down ensuing generations.
Maps usually suggest some patterns of settlement and movement
and rule out others. For example, topographic and other relief
maps may show hills or mountains that impeded migration or
access to certain areas. Rivers bridged now may not have been
bridged when kin lived nearby. Yet, a river can aid migratory
travel because sometimes it is easier to travel on water than
through dense forests and undergrowth, and it is even possible
that your ancestors traveled by waterway to market, to attend
church or school, or to pursue a host of other interests.
Maps covering larger areas may suggest various kinds of
trade, employment, and social, recreational, or other
interactions among the peoples of neighboring towns,
settlements, or other locales. Analysis of such maps may expand
the scope of research beyond nearby county, State, provincial,
or national boundaries.
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Once you've used maps to identify the most likely
place names for your ancestors' homes, try a local library or
historical society to find atlases, gazetteers, local
directories, and other sources that pertain to locales of
interest.
Many kinds of maps may be found at local, State, or regional
libraries, museums, or historical archives. Most local
librarians can also help you gain access to the rich holdings of
the USGS,
National
Archives, and the
Library of Congress,
and to international sources of maps and other resources needed
by genealogists.
Libraries of local historical groups may be your best bet to
find some resources, such as old city and business directories;
old city, county, and regional atlases; and files of obituaries
and other articles from microfilm copies of local newspapers.
The reference sections of many libraries also have these
useful directories:
Directory of Historical Societies of the United States
and Canada:
American Association for State and Local History, Nashville,
Tenn., 1990. This directory lists about 1,000 sources in a
genealogy index.
Official Museum Directory [American Association of Museums]:
National Register Publishing Company, Wilmette, Ill., 1989
Your local librarian may also be able to suggest someone who
has access to sources such as
Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses, 1790—;1920:
Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore, 2000. This
445-page book shows all U.S. county boundaries from 1790 to
1920. On each of the nearly 400 maps, old county lines are
superimposed over modern ones to highlight boundary changes in
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.
For example,
Abstracts of the Earliest Wills Upon Record in the County of
Suffolk, Massachusetts:
Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore, 1984.
Surnames in Ireland, Special Report On [together with]
Varieties and Synonyms of Surnames and Christian Names in
Ireland:
Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore, 2 v., indexed,
1901, 1909 (reprinted 1988).
Historical atlases can also prove useful.
A Genealogical and Historical Atlas of the United States of
America:
Everton Publishers, Logan, Utah, 1976.
Atlas of American History:
Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1943, 294 p.
Historical Atlas and Chronology of County Boundaries
1788—;1980: G. K. Hall, Boston, Mass. 1984, 5 v.
Historical U. S. County Outline Map Collection
1840—;1980: Department of Geography, University of
Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD. 1984.
Township Atlas of the United States: Androit
Associates, McLean, Va., 1979.
A Series of County Outline maps of Southeastern United States of
the Period 1790—;1980: Department of Geography,
University of North Carolina, 1973.
More books can be found
here
For information about place names around the world,
try any of the following:
Chambers World Gazetteer: A—;Z of Geographical Information:
Cambridge University Press, 1988.
Columbia Lippincott Gazetteer of the World: Columbia
University Press and J.B. Lippincott, 1962.
Gazetteers and Glossaries of Geographical Names of the Member
Countries of the United Nations and the Agencies in Relationship
with the United Nations: Bibliography, 1946—;1976:
Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1984.
Names on the Globe: Oxford University Press, New York,
1975.
Parish Maps of the Counties of England and Wales,
Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies, Logan, Utah:
Everton, 1977.
Shtetl Finder: Jewish Communities in the 19th and Early
20th Centuries in the Pale of Settlement of Russia and Poland,
and in Lithuania, Latvia, Galicia, and Bukovina, with Names of
Residents: Heritage Books, Bowie, MD., 1989.
For national place name reference help, try the
following:
Biography of Place-Name Literature, United States and
Canada: American Library Association, Chicago, 1982, 3d ed.
National Gazetteer of the United States of America,
Concise 1990, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper
1200-US:
U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1990.
Geographic Names and the Federal Government: A
Bibliography:
Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress, 1990.
Webster's New Geographical Dictionary: G. &. C.
Merriam, Springfield, Mass., 1999.
For help with place-name research by State, consult
publications such as the following. (This is just a small
sampling of what's available.)
A Gazetteer of Maryland and Delaware [1904]
(reprint):
Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1976.
A Gazetteer of Virginia and West Virginia [1904]
(reprint)
Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1975.
A list of Places Included in 19th Century Virginia Directories:
Virginia State Library, Richmond, 1981.
The Placenames of Maryland. Their Origin and Meaning:
Maryland Historical Society, 1984.
Some 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. It 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,
city plans, boundary maps, census maps, railroad maps,
topographic maps, and many other kinds of maps.
World Mapping Today: Butterworths, London, 1987. A
large, 583-page book that describes the mapping programs of each
country in the world and gives the names and addresses of each
country's principal mapping agencies. Section 4 on Map
Evaluation provides information on how to interpret and use
maps.
Map Collections in the United States and Canada: A
Directory:
Special Libraries Association, New York, 1984, 4th ed.
Guide to U.S. Map Resources, 2 ed,:
American Library Association, Chicago, 1990.
Directory of Canadian Map Collections/ Repertoire des
Collections de Cartes Canadiennes;
Association of Canadian Map Libraries, 1980, 4th ed.
World Directory of Map Collections, compiled by the
Section of Geography and Map Libraries, International Federation
of Library Associations and Institutions: K.G. Saur, Munich,
2000.
Some map bibliographies:
Historical Geography of the United States: A Guide to
Information Sources: Gale Research, Detroit, 1982, (see
especially p.3C51).
Checklist of Printed Maps of the Middle West to 1900:
G.K. Hall, Boston, 1981C82, 14 v.
Bibliography on Cartography,
Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress: G. K. Hall,
Boston, 1973, 5 v First Supplement, 1980, 2 v.
U.S. Geological Survey maps:
In 1879, the USGS's new library began to accumulate its
holding of topographic and many other kinds of maps of the
United States and its territories.
Copies of maps from the USGS library can be ordered as
photographic enlargements from rollmicrofilm of out-of-print
maps of the United States, its territories, and outlying areas.
Scales of copies are not exact.
To order a photocopy of a map in the Survey's library,
contact any Earth Science Information Center or call
1-888-ASK-USGS and describe the kind of map you are seeking as
completely as you can.
You can order current USGS maps directly from the Survey or
from a local map dealer.
The USGS publishes and updates the following maps:
- More than 55,000 large-scale topographic maps (1:24,000,
1:25,000 and 1:20,000 for Puerto Rico) that together show
most local areas of the United States and its territories,
with the exception of Alaska's 2,400 maps at 1:63,360. Each
map names and shows in fairly rich detail every settled area
and other features within the map's boundaries.
- Topographic maps of selected counties at scales of
1:50,000 or 1:100,000.
You can purchase these and other USGS maps from the USGS or a
local map dealer.
For each State, the USGS publishes an Index to
Topographic and Other Map Coverage and [State] Catalog of
Topographic and other Published Maps [all scales]. To
obtain a free index and catalog for one or more States, contact
any Earth Science Information Center or call 1-888-ASK-USGS.
Geography and Map Division,
Library
of Congress.
This Division holds and has direct access to almost 4 million
maps, 51,000 atlases, 8,000 reference works, and a large number
of related materials in other formats.
The Division draws on these vast resources to provide
cartographic and geographic information to Federal and local
governments, the scholarly community, and the public. No single
catalog includes the Division's total holdings, but card and
book catalogs provide access to its collections.
The atlas collection includes representative volumes of all
significant publishers of atlases over the past five centuries.
The atlases cover individual continents, countries, states,
counties, cities and other geographic regions, as well as the
world. They range in scope from general to topical.
Of major interest to genealogists are land ownership records
kept by Federal, State, county, and local government agencies. A
good source for early county maps is Land Ownership Maps: A
Checklist of Nineteenth Century United States County Maps in the
Library of Congress, 1967.
Old and new large- and small-scale planimetric, topographic,
and other kinds of maps are available for every part of the
United States and for most other areas of the world.
Among the many county maps and city and town plans are some
700,000 large-scale Sanborn fire insurance maps. Since 1867, the
firm has issued and periodically updated detailed plans of
12,000 U.S. cities and towns. Some areas are represented by as
many as eight different editions. This collection is an
unrivaled cartographic and historic record of America's urban
settlement and growth over more than a century.
Reference services through the Library of Congress:
Reference service is available to the public in the
Geographic and Map Reading Room in Washington, D.C., and by
telephone or correspondence.
The collections in the Geographic and Map Reading Room are
for reference use only. Maps and atlases are not available for
sale or free distribution.
The Geography and Map Division will respond to requests that
cannot be answered by a library or other source in your
locality. In many cases, the Division can tell you the present
name of a place where you believed an ancestor once lived, and
sometimes it can suggest places where vital and other records
about your ancestor may be on file. It is not possible, however,
for the Division to undertake extensive research projects or to
assist students in preparing term papers, bibliographies, or
other academic assignments.
Geography and Map Reading Room at the Library of
Congress:
This large reading room is open to the public Monday—;Friday
(8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.). It is in Room LM B01 of the Library of
Congress James Madison Memorial Building, 101 Independence
Avenue, SE., Washington, D.C.
In the reading room, geographic and cartographic
bibliographies, reference books, gazetteers, and current issues
of cartographic journals are readily available for consultation.
Acquiring photocopies of maps and plates:
Subject to copyrights and other restrictions, photocopies of
maps and plates from atlases may be ordered through the
Library's Photoduplication Service. Two free brochures are also
available:
-
Geography and Map Division, the Library of Congress
- List of Publications, Geography and Map Division
Look for them in your library or order copies from:
Geography and Map Division
Library of Congress
Washington, DC 20540-4650
Another helpful Library of Congress publication is The
Geography and Map Division: A Guide to its Collections and
Services. This booklet describes some noteworthy items in
the Library's collection. You can order it (specify stock number
030-004-00015-9) from:
Superintendent of Documents
U.S. Government Printing Office
Washington, DC 20402
Cartographic and Architectural Branch,
National Archives:
The National Archives is the official repository for
noncurrent, permanently valuable records produced by the Federal
Government since 1774, including almost 2 million maps. If your
library does not have a copy of the free pamphlet,
Cartographic and Architectural Branch, you can order it
(specify
General Information Leaflet #26) from:
Publications Sales Branch
National Archives
8th and Pennsylvania Ave., NW.
Washington, DC 20408
202-501-5235
The National Archives also offers the
Guide to Genealogical Research at the National Archives.
This 304-page illustrated guide was revised in 1985. Chapter 20
on Cartographic Records describes holdings of the National
Archives that are of special value to genealogist:
- Census Records: census enumeration maps, enumeration
district descriptions, and civil division outline maps.
- General Land Office Records: township survey plats and
U.S. land district maps.
- Military Records: manuscript, annotated, and printed
maps, plans, and charts compiled or collected by various
military organizations.
- Other Cartographic Records: small-scale civil division
maps, postal route maps, USGS topographic quadrangle maps,
area and county soil maps, tax assessment maps, maps
relating to captured and abandoned property, and maps
pertaining to American Indians.
This guide can be ordered from the Publications Sales Branch
of the National Archives or from:
National Archives Trust Fund
NEPS Dept. 735
P.O. Box 100793
Atlanta, GA 30384
(hardcover $25, plus $3 postage).
Other
National Archive publications about cartographic records:
Civil War Maps, 1964
List of Selected Maps of States and Territories, 1971.
Records and Policies of the Post Office Department
Relating to Place Names, 1975.
Cartographic Records Relating to American Indians, 1974 .
. . the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1977. . .the Territory of Iowa
1836-1848, . . . the Territory of Wisconsin 1836-1846, 1970.
List of Cartographic Records of the General Land Office,
1964.
Pre-Federal Maps In the National Archives: An Annotated
List, 1975.
Transportation in Nineteenth-Century America: A Survey of
the Cartographic Records in the National Archives of the United
States, 1975.
Preliminary Inventory of the Cartographic Records of the
Bureau of the Census, 1958.
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Directories and pamphlets are only general guides, but they
will help direct you to the right map collection to suit your
needs.
In making inquiries, give as much information as possible.
Try to provide the State, county, and town or township; the
publisher, year, and place of publication; and the edition of
the map or volume of maps. Specify the kind of information that
you want on the map and the approximate area of coverage.
The map researcher will then be able to indicate if that
map—;or one like it—;exists in that particular collection.
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The U.S. Geological Survey would like to thank the following
for their assistance:
J.B. Post, "Maps for Genealogists," Special Libraries
Association G&M Bulletin, No. 143, March 1986, New York.
Ronald E. Grim, Reference and Bibliography Section, Geography
and Map Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Genealogical Publishing Company 1001 N. Calvert Street
Baltimore, MD 21202
Riley Moffat, "Genealogy and Maps: Some Reference Sources,"
Western Association of Map Libraries Information Bulletin, v.12,
no. 1, Nov. 1980, Santa Barbara Calif.
For information on these and other products and services,
contact one of customer service representatives at
800-248-6277 or
Sales@GeoMart.com
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