Unofficial Guide to Ancestry.com by Nancy Hendrickson

Author:Nancy Hendrickson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: F+W Media

“The Gentleman’s Magazine Library, 1731–1868” collection contains this description of Uffington, an ancient site in Britain.

The Periodicals & Magazines category includes published genealogies that may include information about your own ancestors.

MAPS, ATLASES & GAZETTEERS

Maps, atlases, and gazetteers are among my favorite research tools. Without maps, I wouldn’t be able to trace migration patterns, see changing boundary lines, and understand the geography of where the family lived, as well as figure out its location relative to other towns, counties, and states. Look at a map, and you’ll get a real understanding of migration routes and patterns. The easiest routes were clearly along coasts or down rivers. Pull out a present-day atlas and try to imagine it without roads. You’ll quickly see how your ancestors traveled and why they ended up in certain locales. If you ever “lose” a generation, you can use maps to help speculate on a possible new home.

One of my early research mistakes was not using a map when trying to track down information about my family tree. I swore I did everything possible to find a great-great-grandfather in the county where he lived, but came up short on every occasion. If I had bothered looking at a map, I would have seen that three Missouri counties border each other and that Great-grandpa had lived at the intersection of all three. Some of his records were in one county, and some in another! If I had looked at a map, I would have saved myself years (and yes, I mean years) of searching.

On another occasion, when I was young and uneducated in the way of research, I kept trying to find a 1790 record in Kentucky. When I consulted an early map I realized Kentucky wasn’t even a state until 1792. Prior to that time, Kentucky was a territory, part of Virginia—and so that’s where I’d find that record. Duh.

But beyond my own research gaffes, it’s important to understand that being able to place the family in a specific place during a specific time opens a huge door to other research possibilities. Once you know when and where the family lived, you can start pouring over land, birth, death, marriage, and tax records.

Before we dig into Ancestry.com’s Maps, Atlases & Gazetteers subcategory, you’ll need to know these key terms:

A map is a graphical representation of a place.

An atlas is a compilation of many maps (think a road atlas of the United States).

A gazetteer is a blend of maps, as well as a geographic dictionary of sorts. Modern gazetteers include basic information about a place, including recreation, gardening, tidal times, wildlife, and things to see.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.