Old maps are a underestimated research tool!

Moderator: MOD_nyhetsgrupper

Svar
David

Old maps are a underestimated research tool!

Legg inn av David » 14 mar 2005 21:12:28

Dear Friends and fellow, genealogist's Civil War Researchers,
Even one of my occupations had to do with in depth Genealogy, some time
back. Originally came over from England in the 1980's. Became a US Citizen
and got married. Found my forte in investigation work and started my own
missing heir business. Done quite well at it. made some good money.
Genealogy was one the main arteries in my probate research. It was reverse
engineering in a way. Locating the faint paper trails of many deceases
family members. Because America is a nation of immigrants from across the
globe, my work took me to many foreign countries. Back then there was no
fantastic data bases to search for long lost forgotten cousins, and a long
line of miscellaneous kinfolk. Spent a lot of time at the family history
library run by the Mormons. Unbelievable amounts of useful information was
gleaned from their microfilm records. Ships manifest, immigration, birth,
death, adoption and hundreds of other government indexes. Records at city,
county, state and federal records. Even searched church records in English
parishes and the Soviet block countries. One episode was two brothers who
had died in California. One brother had come over from England, in the early
1800's. His other brother had died without children and have never married.
John Anderson, the second brother had married and had eight children who
seemed to have disappeared into the woodwork.Anderson wasn't a young man
when he joined Robert E. Lees army. Being an equestrian man he had been
attached to the black horse and was wounded along the Potomac. However, I
just was unable to locate any of his kin in Georgia, but eventually I
started studying old civil war maps. Mostly from the U.S. Army topography
Department and located an 1863 map of the Dekalb region. These military
surveyors were very thorough and even identified specific tenants and land
owners on their early drafted maps. To cut a very long story short, having
some early documents the brother being discharged from the confederate
cavalry, he had returned to his homestead. However his home had been burnt
to the ground, His immediate family had moved to a better part of the land.
Nearer to the small town at the time, away from the scavengers and
deserters. If it had not been for the Union military scrupulous surveyors, I
would have never found the new farm. Later I was able to identify current
family members through census indexes and church records. Under California
probate law this meant a living blood relative could inherit the deceased
possessions and real property. The paper trail was very faint but I found a
lead.
Personally, never had any relatives who came to America and fought in the
civil war. But my interest was peaked and I make a point now of going to
South Carolina to watch the battle reenactments.

Strange as it may seem, never began to search for my own ancestors roots,
till I retired. Do not take anything for granted, because you never know
what's out there. Currently I have been looking into the maternal side of my
family, as my real Father died just after WW II. My roots started in the
county of Surrey, about 15 miles from London. Well I had a few clues to go
on. So one of the first things I needed other than birth and death records,
was a early map of Surrey. This was pretty difficult being in these United
states, I located this map seller on the Internet. Well not only did they
have maps of early Europe, but maps of America. They specialize in
Genealogical maps. In addition they have a wonderful selection of civil war
era maps. Be it for identifying battlefields with great clarity or just a
great image for your collection. I needed something special and so I called
their help line. Without extra charge they found a map I wanted. The young
lady I spoke to was very helpful and even called me back. She let me know
what they had located for me. This historical map of Surrey became a great
search tool. It had all the old place names. A remarkable find. Didn't
charge me a fortune either. Any researcher interested in their ancestry
should look-see their website. Whether you a looking for a family farm in
the middle of Iowa, or even the township where you were born they have
thousands of maps. The website is http://maps-of-the-past.com. Take a look.
You will not be disappointed. I have my 1855 county map of Surrey, framed
and on my wall. You really do not have to stray to far from your keyboard,
to find all the information you need anymore. Even the largest genealogical
archive in the world, is online now. The LDS church has everything on
microfilm, so even they can be accessed on the Internet.
Being retired I have ample time to answer any questions you might have.

Retiredff

Re: Old maps are a underestimated research tool!

Legg inn av Retiredff » 14 mar 2005 22:04:47

David wrote:
Dear Friends and fellow, genealogist's Civil War Researchers,

Here is a collection of Civil War maps that might help in anyone's research:

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/collections/civil_war_maps/

This is a U.S. Library of Congress site, with maps from from three premier
collections: the Library of Congress Geography and Map Division, the
Virginia Historical Society, and the Library of Virginia.

Svar

Gå tilbake til «alt.genealogy»