I have done a lot of work with maps and
searches for maps. As a geologist, making and using maps were great part of my
work. They were invaluable sources of information and mandatory for recording and
presenting data and ideas for new prospects.
I use maps extensively in genealogical
studies as well, searching for old addresses that appear on censuses and in other
records, tracing routes that people took, through life as well as through
travel. Using maps I could find out where certain people were through time and come
up with some ideas of why they moved.
Small parishes are much easier to review of
course. If they have limited roadways or are off the “beaten track” it is much
easier to see how the residents might have interacted. Looking at towns and cities
on maps, over time (even hundreds of years) allows one to see how the communities developed but also how families might have adapted during this growth if they
were around the area for a few generations.
Most of my genealogical work has been
confined to the British Isles. Some of the websites I have found useful in
looking for old maps or in just seeing what areas looked like include the
following:
A Vision of Britain Through Time
– topographical, land use and administration maps from the 19th and 20th
Centuries:
Baedeker’s
Old Guide Books – maps scanned from various Baedeker Guidebooks which were
published before 1939
Bing (the old Multimap) – good
for ordnance survey and aerial photos
Caledonian Maps – a commercial
site where old maps of Scotland can be purchased
Charles
Booth Online Archive – a searchable resource giving access to archive
material from the Booth collections of the Library of the London School of
Economics and Political Science and the Senate House Library
Genmaps –
part of the Ancestry community; a site devoted to online images of English,
Welsh and Scottish maps from their beginnings to the early 20th Century
Google
Maps – present-day maps with a wonderful option to see areas from satellite
views and street views which show the detail of individual streets and buildings
Historic
MapWorks – commercial site for maps from around the world
Mapco – free
access to high quality scans of rare and beautiful antique maps and views
National
Library of Scotland – offers high-resolution, zoomable images of over
86,000 maps of Scotland and other areas
Old-Maps.co.uk – another commercial
website where historical maps England, Wales and Scotland can be purchased
Ordnance
Survey – commercial site for modern-day maps of the Great Britain and
Ireland
Old London Maps – old maps
of London, England area
Some of them are commercial sites, of
course but even on those there is always something that you can download free
to at least get some ideas from. There are many others. A Google search for “genealogy
maps” leads to hundreds of results describing where old maps can be found. Or
one might search for a particular area such as “Cornwood, Devon maps”.
Here is part of an 1809 ordnance map I
found covering the Cornwood area. It was very useful to compare to place names found on a tax assessment list from the late 18th century. According to
the tax list, two properties, “E. Rook”, on the upper part of the map, and “Nats
Fm.” (also referred to as Notts and Knotts in other documents), on the lower
part of the map, were owned by my 5th great-grandfather, and likely
by ancestors further back from him. Knotts was sold in 1810. The family
continued to own East Rook until the early 1900s.
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Portion
of 1809 ordnance survey map copied from A vision of Britain through time
website; downloaded September 1, 2012
By tracing where some individuals lived in
relation to their future partners I could also envision how they might have
met. For example, my wife, Linda’s grandfather, Alexander Cooper, lived with his mother at 4
John Street, Glasgow, Scotland, in 1881, according to the census taken
that year. His first wife, Margaret Scott, lived at 44 Hutcheson Street, just
three minutes away. She was a confectioner and probably worked in a shop fairly
close to her home. I like to think that they may have met and fell in love in a
candy store.
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Portion
of a map of the New Plan of Glasgow with
suburbs, from Ordnance and Actual Surveys constructed for the Post Office
Directory by John Bartholomew and published in 1882, showing the residence
locations for Alexander Cooper and Margaret Scott; copied from the National Library of Scotland
website July 22, 2014.
Wayne Shepheard is a volunteer with the Online Parish Clerk
program, handling four parishes in Devon,
England. He has published a number of articles about various aspects of
genealogy and is a past Editor of Chinook,
the quarterly journal of the Alberta Family Histories Society. Wayne also
provides genealogical consulting services through his business, Family History Facilitated.
