Maps & The Genealogist

Maps provide the genealogist with a wealth of information historical documents can only hint at.  They often spur new avenues of research, allowing the researcher to really understand the geography of their family's past and visually, bring it to life. 

• Maps enable you to view the geographical area your ancestors inhabited throughout their lifetime.  Large scale maps enable you to view the distances various family members or branches of the family came from.  Smaller scale maps of town and villages can help the genealogist locate the actual roads that perhaps siblings and closer family members lived and provide clues as to how their lives may have been entwined. 

• Perhaps your family moved or migrated from one area to another, possibly because of work or maybe because of marriage.  In times when travelling was a lengthy and gruelling experience, littered with dangers along the way, geographical distances should not be underestimated. 

• If you are trying to find a place name mentioned by one of your ancestors, always check spelling variants.  Spellings may have altered or changed other the years or perhaps your ancestors interpretation of a particular spelling is different to that written on a map of the same era.  Also be aware that place names may have changed completely over the years, or even several times from say the seventeenth century. 

• Maps can also offer new avenues of research and insights into your family history.  Maybe your great-grandmother was from an area 30 miles away from the place your great-grandfather lived. How did they meet, how did they sustain their courtship and was there a family connection?  Perhaps their father's were both members of the same religious group, union or society?  Did your great-grandmother move to that area after they were married?  If so, did any other of her family members follow her?  Maps spark ideas and show the geographical location of families connections.  

• Old maps may also help you locate gravestones.  There may be a local church close to the area your great-grandparents lived that contains their gravestones and possibly those of their forbearers.  Perhaps the church will hold a host of information that can further your research.

Useful Websites

http://www.genuki.org.uk/ - Search by county to find maps containing the old parish boundaries

http://www.old-maps.co.uk - A UK site containing maps from the 1880's

http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/ - Includes a selection of old maps

http://www.scotroots.com/maps-scotland.htm - Maps of Scotland

http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/irl/ - Maps Of Ireland

http://www.webexcel.ndirect.co.uk/gwarnant/hanes/maps/map.htm - Maps Of Medieval Wales

http://www.worcestercitymuseums.org.uk/content/oldmaps/mapsind.htm - Old Maps & Plans from Worcester Museum

http://www.ph.ucla.edu/epi/snow/1859map/map1859.html - John Snow's London, 1859

By Rachael Hannan

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