Maryland Maps

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United States

U.S. Maps

Maryland

Maps

Maryland Map

Online Resources

• See United States Maps for more resources.
• Geographical Names Information System
• Library of Congress Digitized Map Collection
• Sanborn Maps
• History of Cartography
• Maryland Map Collection from University of Maryland
• Maryland State Archives
• Maryland County Formation Maps
• United States Census Bureau State and County Map
• Historical Maps of Maryland.
• Martenet's Map of Harford County, Maryland
• Johns Hopkins University libraries
• Enoch Pratt Free Library,
• McKeldin Library at the University of Maryland
• Hornbake Library at the University of Maryland
• Maryland State Archives
• Maryland Historical Trust Library
• National Atlas of the United States, 1970.
• Martenet's Map of Harford County, Maryland

Printed Publication

• Thorndale, William, and William Dollarhide. Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses, 1790-1920. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1987. (FS Library book 973 X2th.)
• Maryland, Delaware Atlas and Gazetteer. DeLorme Mapping. 4th ed., Freeport, Maine: DeLorme, 2004. (FS Library book 975 E7md .)

Background

• The names of places where your ancestor lived. Place names change over time. Use a Maryland gazetteer or United States gazetteer to find alternate names of the places where your ancestor lived.

Types of Maps

• See Maps for more information.

Library of Congress Digitized Map Collection has over 100 Maryland Maps online. A good way to find them is to do a Keyword Search on the terms Maryland Map. On the Search Results screen, click Gallery View to see pages with thumbnail-sized images that will help you quickly select the map you want.

Sanborn Maps are fire insurance maps available as part of a ProQuest subscription at some libraries, including the FamilySearch Library and family history centers.

History of Cartography links to sites with over 100 digital maps of Maryland.

Maryland Map Collection from University of Maryland contains over 100 digitized maps of Maryland. To find the digitized maps, do a Keyword Search on .jpg Maryland.

Maryland State Archives holds a collection of several maps both current and historical.

County Maps

Maryland Region Map

Maryland County Formation Maps shows every change in county boundries from 1637 to the present day. It shows a map and gives details about each change and the year the change took place.

United States Census Bureau State and County Map from the US Census Bureau is a nationwide county map. You can search for counties by name and can zoom in and see counties and neighboring counties even in other states.

Thorndale, William, and William Dollarhide. Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses, 1790-1920. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1987. (FS Library book 973 X2th.) A limited view of this book is online. Includes maps that show the county boundaries for the years the U.S. federal census was taken.

Historical Atlases

• Historical Maps of Maryland

• A helpful historical atlas is Papenfuse, Edward C., and Joseph M. Coale. The Hammond-Harwood House Atlas of Historical Maps of Maryland, 1608-1908. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982. (FS Library book Q 975.2 E7p; film 1597909 item 18.)

• Baltimore City ward maps that correspond roughly with the censuses of 1820 to 1900 are on FS Library film 1377700 and FS Library fiche 6016568-76 .
• For 7.5-, 15-, and 30-minute topographic quadrangle maps for Maryland published between 1884 and 1972 use the:
• United States Geological Survey. Topographic Maps of the United States. Suitland, Maryland: National Archives and Records Service, 1976. The maps are arranged alphabetically by the name of the quadrangle on the following films:

	Aberdeen-Flintstone	FS Library film 1433784
	Gunpowder-Myersville	FS Library film 1433785
	Paw Paw-Urbana	FS Library film 1433786
	Wyoming	FS Library film 1433783

• Film numbers for additional and more recent topographical maps are listed in the Locality Search of the FamilySearch Catalog under UNITED STATES - MAPS.
• To see changes in county boundaries, use: Long, John H., ed. Delaware, Maryland, District of Columbia atlas of Historical County Boundaries. New York: Charles Schribner’s Sons, 1996. (FS Library book 975 E3L.) This volume is part of a proposed 40-volume reference work under the common title “Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.” It intends to trace boundary changes from the earliest date to 1990, leaving no gaps. It also intends to provide a frame of reference for understanding boundary changes.
• Also see: Maryland, Delaware Atlas and Gazetteer. DeLorme Mapping. 4th ed., Freeport, Maine: DeLorme, 2004. (FS Library book 975 E7md .)
• The Place Search of the FamilySearch Catalog lists more maps under:
• Selected Maryland Out-of-print historical maps can be viewed online at Historical Maps of Maryland.
• MARYLAND, [COUNTY] - MAPS
• Detail of Maryland's regions
• National Atlas of the United States, 1970.
• Martenet's Map of Harford County, Maryland

Libraries and Archives

Johns Hopkins University libraries, the Enoch Pratt Free Library, the University of Maryland McKeldin Library and Hornbake Library, and the Maryland State Archives have large collections of Maryland maps and atlases. The Maryland Historical Trust Library also has a collection of 306 Maryland maps.

Reliability of maps

Early maps are not as reliable as modern-day maps, but reliability of maps improved over time as surveying tools improved. Even though early or primitive maps may not be correct in terms of scale or relative positioning, they are still a good source of the names people used for various jurisdictions and geographic features.

Strategy

Maps are used to locate the places where your ancestors lived. They identify political boundaries, names of places, geographical features, cemeteries, churches, and migration routes. Historical maps and atlases are especially useful for finding communities that no longer exist.

• To see place names in your ancestor's area, search maps that were published as close as possible to the time period when your ancestor lived there.
• Names of places change over time. If you cannot find on a map the place where your ancestor lived (such as a town), check gazetteers published before and after your ancestor's era to see whether the town had a different name.
• After locating the place where your ancestor lived, note the jurisdictions which contained it and surrounded it, as well as the jurisdictions that it contained. All of these jurisdictions may have further records of your ancestor.