Maps

United States

Land and Property

Maps

Genealogical information in various types of maps

To select the right kind of map to solve a genealogical problem, it is helpful to know what kinds of information each type of map displays.

• Atlases are bound collections of maps. Historical atlases are especially useful because they tend to plot historic towns and landmarks more accurately than old maps do in relation to jurisdictional boundaries and geographic features.
• Boundary change maps show shifts in borders of townships, counties, states and territories over time.
• Census maps. Spelling errors by census takers often make ancestors hard to find. If you know your ancestor's address (or general area of residence in rural areas), census maps showing enumeration district boundaries can indicate where in the census rolls to search for the ancestor. 
• Chamber of commerce maps, which can usually be obtained for free from city and town chambers of commerce, show streets, government offices, courthouses, libraries, businesses, museum archives, and important landmarks. 
• City and town maps show detailed street information, addresses, rail and mass transit routes, and landmarks.
• City and town locator maps plot a town and often give its coordinates so that it can be plotted in an historical atlas or map to determine the county, parish, or state in which it resided during a given year. 
• City plans often demystify the renaming of streets, parks, neighborhoods, and other features.
• County, Parish, or Province maps show roads, cemeteries, landmarks, local boundaries, and physical features.
• Fire insurance maps (Sanborn maps) of 12,000 cities and towns yield street names and specific properties and addresses starting in 1867. Using these with city directories can help locate urban ancestors in a given year.
• Land ownership (cadastral) maps and plat books show boundaries of land plots, and usually the owners' names.
• Military maps show extreme detail regarding geographical features, terrain, landmarks, natural resources, place names, and landmarks. 
• Railroad maps indicate preferred routes of travel during an era where the routes changed from one year to the next. These also aid in tracking the possible whereabouts of railroad employees since many railroads merged or changed names. 
• Topographic or geologic maps show terrain, natural resources (forests, mining resources), and features that affected travel (rivers, rapids, canals, mountains, mountain passes, canyons).

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 are especially useful for finding communities that no longer exist.

Maps are available from the National Archives, the Library of Congress, county agencies, and other libraries and historical societies.

Land Ownership Maps

Government or commercial agencies have created numerous maps showing the names of land owners in an area. These are often called “cadastral” maps. They sometimes include other helpful details such as churches, cemeteries, and roads. An inventory of many of the land ownership maps is:

• Library of Congress. Geography and Map Division. Land Ownership Maps: A Checklist of Nineteenth Century United States County Maps in the Library of Congress. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1967. (FHL book 973 A3Loc; fiche 6048262.)

Some of these maps are found under:

• Library of Congress. Geography and Map Division. Land Ownership Maps. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1983. (On 2,010 FHL fiche starting with 6079238.)

Plat Maps

The county or town offices that maintain land and property records often have plat books containing maps of property boundaries and land ownership within the county.
• Arphax Publishing Co., Norman, Oklahoma offers patent maps.

Also see Federal Plats section under “Obtaining a Legal Description of the Land” for information about the federal township plats.

Surveys

A surveyor’s drawing of the legal description of the land is called a “survey” or “plat.” Some of these were recorded and some were kept as loose papers. No land could be owned by an individual until it was surveyed.

Homestead surveys for several states are available online.

Land Survey Information System helps plot rectangular survey land (township, range, secton).

Locating Township and County Boundaries

Maps of modern county boundaries are in :

• County Lines on Google Maps (randymajors.com), present-day county boundaries on a searchable, fully interactive Google Map.
• The Handybook for Genealogists, United States of America. 11th ed. Logan, Utah: Everton Publishers, 2006.
• Eichholz, Alice, ed. Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources. Provo, Utah: Ancestry. 2004.

Maps and an index of townships and other present-day civil boundaries are in:

• Andriot, Jay. Township Atlas of the United States. McLean, Virginia: Documents Index, 1991. (FHL book 973 E7an 1991.)

Detailed maps and legal histories of county formations and changes are found in:

• Historical U.S. County Boundary Maps (randymajors.com) An online tool that uses Google Maps to display county boundaries from any historical date. Type in present day place in the U.S. and a historical date or year to see the map of county boundaries then in effect, along with all of the current Google Maps places, roads, etc to put the historical map in a current and familiar context! You can then click any county on the map to see the specific history of the boundary changes, see full chronology of boundary changes, and overlay research locations such as libraries and cemeteries. Based on the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries, a project of The Newberry Library.
• Long, John H., editor. Historical Atlas and Chronology of County Boundaries, 1788-1980. Five Volumes. Boston, Massachusetts: G. K. Hall, 1984. (FHL book 973 E7hL; fiche 60514226-30.) The states included are Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
• MapofUS.org
• Massachusetts Genealogy 101 has maps showing boundary changes in Massachusetts and is also a good research site for Massachusetts.
  

Websites

• Historical U.S. County Boundary Maps
• County Lines on Google Maps
• The GeoNames gazetteer
• Info Please
• Library of Congress, "American Memory" collection
• United States territorial acquisitions
• Principal Meridians and Base Lines Governing the United States Public Land Surveys. Cadastral Survey
• US Board on Geographic Names like Omni.
• At iTouchMap.com you can enter latitude and longitude coordinates in the search box in decimal format, as well as find the latitude and longitude for an address.
• OldMapsOnline.org
• The David Rumsey Map Collection
• The Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection
• Maps: Scanned collections online from the British Library
• Trove.nla.gov.au Maps
• The New York Public Library
• USGS Topographical Map Collections including Historical Topographical Maps
• Western Waters Digital Library
• Michigan State University, Using Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps Online
• Ancestry.com
• Archive.org
• Digital Public Library of America
• United States Census Bureau State and County Maps
• Historic Map Works
• Newberry Atlas of Historical County Boundaries
• University of Texas at Austin, Historical Maps Websites
• American Geographical Society - Digital Map Collection
• Ancient World Mapping Center - Maps for Students
• Digtal-Topo-Maps.com
• National Archives, Cartographic and Architectural Records
• Public Domain Sherpa, Public Domain Maps
• Olin and Uris Libraries, Cornell University, GIS Data and Maps, United States
• Index to Digital USGS 15 Minute Topographical Maps
• Map History, Images of early maps on the web
• DigitalStateArchives.com
• University of New Hampshire, Historic USGS Maps of New England and New York
• Rails and Trails, Historic Transportation Sources
• USGS National Map
• US Forest Service Maps

References

• Andriot, Jay. Township Atlas of the United States. McLean, Virginia: Documents Index, 1991.
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "Land and Property." United States Research Outline. Salt Lake City, Utah: Intellectual Reserve, Inc., 1988, 2002.
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "Maps." United States Research Outline. Salt Lake City, Utah: Intellectual Reserve, Inc., 1988, 2002.
• Eichholz, Alice, ed. Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources. Provo, Utah: Ancestry. 2004.
• Greenwood, Val. Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy. 3rd ed. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2000, 2003.
• The Handybook for Genealogists, United States of America. 11th ed. Logan, Utah: Everton Publishers, 2006.
• Library of Congress. Geography and Map Division. Land Ownership Maps. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1983.
• Library of Congress. Geography and Map Division. Land Ownership Maps: A Checklist of Nineteenth Century United States County Maps in the Library of Congress. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1967.
• Long, John H., editor. Historical Atlas and Chronology of County Boundaries, 1788-1980. Five Volumes. Boston, Massachusetts: G. K. Hall, 1984.
• Luebking, Sandra Hargreaves. “Land Records,” in Loretto Dennis Szucs and Sandra Hargreaves Luebking, eds. The Source: A Guidebook to American Genealogy. 3rd ed. Provo, Utah: Ancestry, 2006.
• Stephenson, Richard W. Land Ownership Maps. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1967.
• Wilford, John Noble. The Mapmakers. Rev. ed. Alfred A. Knopf, 2000.