Yesterday, I shared results of my most recent look at maps in connection with an ancestor’s life. That map was definitely to provide an overview of the “big picture.”
Most of the time, though, tracking ancestors requires using maps that cover way fewer square miles, so today I’d like to share a few ways that I’ve successfully use maps in my genealogical research.
- Last week, I shared an image of one of my favorite types of local maps, which were first appeared around 1880. Publishing companies had reps wandering around rural areas, plotting out where local families lived. They created a kind of plat map, although these maps don’t show dimensions of property holdings. However, they do show town lines and neighbors, which is great for building a FAN club.And, if you think your ancestors lived in a place to be too small to appear in one of these map books, you’re wrong!Villages don’t get much smaller than Charlotte and Meddybemps in Washington County, Maine:
If I wanted to, I could now look for land deeds for my Charles Stewart and his neighbors that are recorded in metes and bounds style (from the oak tree 300 feet to the corner of John Smith’s property. . . ) and use a software program like DeedMapper to see the boundaries of Charles’ property and perhaps accurately show how Mr. Bridges’ land joined his.
Depending on how accurately the metes and bounds were measured and recorded, I might be able to build out a good-sized neighborhood for Charlotte and/or Meddybemps.
2. I’ve also researched families who lived in PLSS (Public Land Survey States) also known as the Township, Range and Section system. The land system uses a standardized grid to identify each section of land, which may be subdivided into halves or even fourths.
The PLSS typically divides land into 6-mile-square townships. Townships are subdivided into 36 one-mile-square sections. Sections can be further subdivided into quarter sections, quarter-quarter sections, or irregular government lots. PLSS was created to divide parcels of public land; it’s not useful for the accurate location of points and shouldn’t be confused with coordinate systems like latitude/longitude, UTM, or the State Plane Coordinate System.
By looking at the grid pattern and reading your deed, it’s possible to determine the exact piece of property your ancestor owned.
There are thirty states that at least partially use the PLSS, mostly in the South, Midwest and West. I’ve used land deeds from Hempstead County, Arkansas to figure out, in person, the land which was owned by some of my husband’s ancestors.
3. A more general use of maps, but one I couldn’t do without, are maps showing county boundary changes that align with census years. The Atlas of Historical County Boundaries is free online, but I prefer my hard copy of Thorndale and Dollarhide’s book Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses. 1790-1920. I use that book all the time to figure out where to find deeds and probate records for ancestors who lived in places like Howard County, Missouri. The early guys there in 1818 lived in four different counties, but never moved. The county lines sure did, though, as settlers flooded in.
4. Of course, in larger cities, street maps have been published for hundreds of years. Sometimes, a historic map published in a particular year is needed if a researcher can’t find a particular street. For example, if I were looking for Second Street in Passaic, New Jersey on a 2026 map, I would be stymied. That’s because it is now called Market Street and it sits between the still-named First Street and Third Street. Check out my list of where to find map collections.
5. Finally, don’t overlook the Sanborn insurance maps that will help with those larger towns and cities. I found my childhood home in the Passaic collection with a general schematic of the shape of the house and learned a few new details about modifications that were made to the home through the years.
Bonus Tip: I’ve even used a map to determine how far away Martin Miller would have gone courting Catherine Whitmer. I didn’t know who his father was and needed to separate out the German and English Millers, determine where John Whitmer’s family lived and then focus on the Millers living closest to the Whitmers. It worked! Martin was the son of Jacob Miller who lived less than five miles away from the Whitmers.
Before the automobile, a young man could travel about five miles each way to go courting and be back at home by dark the same day.
There are also early maps showing America’s first roads and highways, railroad routes and even water travel routes. There are maps for just about any kind of research location.
I hope that I’ve encouraged researchers who haven’t added maps to their genealogy toolboxes to investigate the kinds of maps that are available for the areas in which their ancestors lived.
