Janie Edwards found, rescued, scanned and is now sharing this amazing book. If you are like me, you want to see where your ancestors lived, on a map. In fact, while looking at this web site, I discovered that the village of Corinth, Maine is south of South Corinth. I thought I knew the area well but this was news to me. (My great-great-grandfather lived in Corinth.)
The dates of the individual maps vary from 1910 to 1914. You can see this excellent resource at: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~shastaca/maps_index.html.
I first learned of this great site by reading a message posted by "patj" on the EOGN Discussion Forum. Thanks Pat!
I looked at Ottawa and Sandusky counties in Ohio (where I live), and all the lines you see which look like roads, are NOT roads, but RAILROADS.
I've seen lots of old maps with roads on them, but don't remember any with just railroads on them.
Thanks for the tip, Dick, and thanks for sharing, Janie!
Dan
Posted by: Dan Myers | February 14, 2009 at 02:01 PM
I took a quick look when I first saw these maps announced. The couple I first looked at were so modern that I filed the link away but didn't think much more of it.
After your post, I went back again and looked at the "county" (including surrounding counties) where I grew up. I noticed the name "Pacific" for a town in Iowa near where I lived and now named "Atlantic."
My interest piqued, I searched for some history of the town. It was believed to be half way between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and local lore has it that there was a coin toss to decide the name. One site said "Pacific" won the toss, but "Atlantic" was chosen because there were too many other Pacifics around the country. Others assumed that "Atlantic" won the toss.
Whatever the actual circumstances, I learned an interesting tidbit today about the area where I grew up from a map I might otherwise have overlooked as too modern to have any meaningful insights.
Posted by: John | February 14, 2009 at 02:19 PM
The Edgefield, SC map isn't loading :(
Posted by: CAP | February 15, 2009 at 08:30 AM
I checked Fayette Co. in Iowa where I grew up. All the lines connecting towns are definitely rail lines.
Posted by: Daniel Kortenkamp | February 16, 2009 at 09:19 AM
I picked up a 1943 atlas at a yard sale years ago and it shows all the counties of each state. Trouble is my grandparents were born in villages so small they don't appear on the map but it is nice to know the location of those counties. Atlases tell the stories of historical changes so watch for them at yard and garage sales and of course used book stores.
Posted by: William R McGrath | February 17, 2009 at 11:09 AM
Janie, thanks for all your work and for sharing. The maps are very nice.
Posted by: Louise | February 21, 2009 at 05:40 PM