Tag Archives: PinMaps

Historical Maps

Ancestral Origins & Google Maps

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Google maps can be used fro so much more than just locating a place.

Pins on the maps are especially helpful for genealogists. I knew exactly how I wanted to use them. I’ve identified over 100 English locations where my ancestors have lived and I wanted to map them all out.

First, I used RootsMagic to create a list of places and then identified the list of English places. I double checked a number of villages because I wasn’t sure if someone in my direct line actually lived there or if it was a collateral family.

Next, I found a short video, How to Pin Multiple Locations in Google Maps (2024), that showed me how to set up a new map to save.

It took very little time to get going. One of the tag options is Ancestors’ Origins, which is the only one I used. Every time I tagged a place, it was saved and now, when I go to Google Maps, I can click on the 3-line bar.

It opens to this:

What does the final product look like? This is the entire U.K. map:

I can also enlarge England to better view individual pins:

On the live map, I can click each pin and land in an ancestral town.

My map isn’t unusual for those with colonial New England ancestors as those disenchanted with English life and who left for the colonies in the 1600s were more often from the southeastern portion of England.

It took me a few hours to complete this map, but I love it!

Methodology

A Little of This, A Little of That

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As part of my blogging organization techniques, I keep a running list of possible writing topics. I’ve had several websites on my list for a while now, but none of them tickled my fancy enough to write an entire blog post about each one separately. However, they are all worthy sites and, lesser known than some other similar sites, so I’ve decided to group them into “a little of this and a little of that.”

Here they are:

1. Linkpendium – This site has been around for about five years and has over 10,000,000 genealogy links to U.S. localities grouped by state and to surnames grouped alphabetically. I added this website to my topic list because it has been getting a major overhaul in 2015. There have been ten site updates so far this year, with many bad links removed, broken links fixed and some new links added. There is also a beta version of locality links for the United Kingdom and Ireland. If you haven’t visited Linkpendium yet, it is worth a visit. Access is free.

2. OldMapsOnline.org – This site was also on my list because of recent updating. Access to over 400,000 maps is available and there are numerous links to institutions participating in this project. The site is very easy to use. Just enter a place name anywhere in the world. A box will come up highlighting the location. Check the list on the right for maps of this location. Click and the map will be viewable.

Here are several map pinning sites. They are all free, all similar and which one you might choose to use would be based purely on personal preference:

3. PinMaps.net – This site does exactly what its name suggests. Sign up for a user account and you can pin places on maps. Testimonials include people using the site for work-related purposes, but genealogists can, say, focus on one town and pin homes where family members lived, schools and churches they attended and cemeteries where ancestors are buried.

4. HistoryPin.com – Another pinning site that is described as “a global community collaborating around history.” Join by signing up for a free account and, like on the other sites, begin pinning.

A resource for historical newspapers:

5. Elephind – Elephind is an historical newspaper database that advertises a worldwide collection with 2.6 million “newspapers,” which I take to be digitized pages, from 2,705 newspaper titles. The search box gives a figure of 141.8 million “items.”

I have not compared Elephind’s holdings to Chronicling America or any other websites. However, it is another resource to check in the search for digitized newspaper articles.

Last, but not least, here is a great site for genealogy guides and tips:

6. ResearchGuides.net – This site includes free links to “Genealogy Research Guides, Tips and Online Records.”  Most of the information is geared to the beginning genealogist, but does include some free charts and forms.

There you have it – a little bit of this, a little bit of that. Hope you learned about some new resources.