Category: Maps

Document Detective: Understanding Railroad Maps

Railroad maps can provide useful, interesting information about your ancestors and their communities. Here are eight tips for using them.

7 Most Useful Historical Maps

Genealogy isn't all text records and photos. Map out your ancestor's community and step back into time with these most useful historical maps.

Historical Research Maps: Plat Maps

Gaze into your ancestor's past with plat maps, which show the divisions of land in your ancestor's neighborhood.

Historical Research Maps: Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps

Gaze into the streets where your ancestors lived with one of the most reliable collections of maps: Sanborn fire insurance maps.

Research Roadmap: Enumeration District Maps

Learn how census enumeration district maps can be useful to your research, and get tips for finding and reading these maps.

Using Cemetery Plot Maps in Your Genealogy Research

Cemeteries are some of genealogists' favorite haunts. Learn about cemetery plot maps and how they can help your research there.

free family tree chart

How to Use Online Sanborn Maps for Genealogy

The Library of Congress has a collection of Sanborn fire insurance maps available online. They're a great resource for finding your ancestor's address.

Historical Research Maps: Western States

The regions of the Wild, Wild West didn't always look like they do today. Check out this map of the Western United States in 1857, plus a list of when states were organized into territories and admitted to the Union.

How to Use Old Maps to Find Missing Ancestors

Did your ancestors drop off the map? Maybe it's not because they moved, but because boundaries shifted or street names changed. We'll help you use old maps to solve place problems in your genealogy research.