Monday, June 30, 2014

Mappy Monday: US Enumeration Maps on Family Search

Gosh I love a good map! Have been known in times past to grab an world atlas or the AAA Road Atlas off the shelf and just take a browse. It always made me happy. So now it makes me real happy whenever I find a good map that's also helpful in my genealogy pursuits.

Over at RootDig, Michael John Neill wrote about FamilySearch's browsable US Census Enumeration District maps, and you can see his post here. Usually, I am reluctant to jump into big browsable record set, but on Sunday morning it seemed the perfect thing to do, provided I had a big cuppa.

It was so easy to find what I was looking for that I almost felt like a hidden hand was guiding me, or maybe the path to what I was looking for was well organized. Yeah that's probably it. First you go here to FamilySearch and NARA's list of states and microfilm roll numbers. And thank you FamilySearch for scanning and putting these online! If you go there you'll see that it's pretty easy to scroll on down and find the state you're looking for.



I'm looking for Maryland so that's where I click. Now I'm into the pool and have to swim. It's a-browsing I do go. After a couple of stabs at it I find Baltimore city and Anne Arundel County, and then Allegany County which is located in the western mountainous part of the state and what I was looking for. There's a couple of maps and I am easily tempted to stop and take a meander but I press on and find the little mountain town of Frostburg where my family and ancestors come from. Here's the map I saved to the computer.

SOURCE: "United States Enumeration District Maps for the Twelfth through the Sixteenth US Censuses, 1900-1940," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-35062-11566-70?cc=2329948&wc=92VW-3TT:1077258501 : accessed 29 Jun 2014), Roll 26, Maryland, Allegany-Worcester 1900-1940 > image 578 of 596; citing NARA microfilm publication M1882, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.


It might not look pretty or like much to you but it's solid gold to me! I could sit here all day looking at it and I just might. Here's a close up.

 
 
If you click to enlarge and look closely you'll see little dots. Those are buildings, such as residences. Imagine what you can do with that!
 
Did I mention I really like maps? Mappy Monday turned into Happy Monday!
 
 
A downtown view of Frostburg about 1906. You can see more of the album it came from by clicking on the tab "Album: Nat'l Pike" at the top. 
 

A fall view of Frostburg, 2012.
 
 
Mappy Monday is a blogging prompt fro GeneaBloggers.
 
 
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