Locating Information about a Locality Using Gazetteers and Maps

Last night, Melinda Kashuba gave the first of two presentations to my local genealogy society, Contra Costa County Genealogical Society, about using maps for genealogy. It was recorded and members will be able to view the recording on the website. She will give part two next month. If interested in seeing part two, register using the link above.

The presentation was wonderful as she explained about cadastral, fire insurance, bird’s eye view, and other types of maps. At the conclusion, she gave us homework to do before the next session in June. We are to:

• Construct a timeline for one ancestor
• Find a gazetteer for one place in the timeline
• Find two historic maps for that one place

She gave us several places to search for these resources.

Timeline for the life of Julia Sievert (1854-1928) who married Johan Anton Hork:[1]

• Julia was born in Joliet, Will County, Illinois on 31 October 1854
• She lived with her parents, Vincent & Susanna (Raduntz) in 1860 in Joliet. Her father was a farmer.
• She lived with her parents in 2nd Ward, Joliet in 1870; her father was a stone mason.
• She married Johan Anton Hork in Joliet at St. John’s Catholic Church 6 June 1872
• Child Maria Hork was baptized 11 May 1873 at St. John’s Catholic Church
• Child Ida Hork was born 24 January 1875 in Aurora, Illinois
• Child Susan Hork was born in Joliet on 30 April 1877
• Child Albert Hork was born 2 August 1879 in Aurora
• In 1880, the family lived at 61 Front Street in Aurora. Johan Anton was a tailor.
• Child Carrie Hork was born 16 October 1881 in Aurora
• Child Frank Hork was born 29 February 1884 in Muskegon, Michigan
• Child Anthony was born 31 October 1886 in Stuart, Guthrie County, Iowa
• Child Raymond Hork was born 11 November 1889 in Stuart
• Child Urselle Hork was born 23 March 1892 in Portland, Multnomah Co, Oregon
• Child Maria died 28 September 1895 in Portland.
• Child William Cyril Hork was born 10 July 1899 in Hamilton, Ravalli Co, Montana
• In 1900, the family lived in Hamilton, Montana
• Johan Anton Hork died 15 August 1906 in Sheridan, Wyoming
• Julia continued living in Hamilton until her death on 4 August 1928

I will focus first on locating information about Joliet in Will County, Illinois, where she spent her childhood. We were instructed to check the FamilySearch Wiki, the maps at the Library of Congress, David Rumsey Map Collection, USGS’ topo view, and to locate a gazetteer. The following is what I was able to locate in an afternoon:

From the FamilySearch Wiki, I learned Will County, Illinois was created 12 January 1836 from Cook and DuPage Counties. It was named for Dr. Conrad Will who was an active politician in early Illinois statehood. The county seat is Joliet. The other major cities in the county include Aurora (which today is large enough to be in parts of four counties), Lockport, Naperville, and Wilmington. Will County neighbors Cook, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, and Lake (Indiana) counties.[2]

From the G.W. Hawes’ Illinois State Gazetteer and Business Directory (located at the Internet Archive), 

“The surface is generally level and destitute of timber, excepting small groves. The soil is very fertile and much of it is under cultivation. The soil of the prairie is a deep sandy loam, adapted to Indian corn and grass. It contains 15 or 18 churches, three newspaper offices, about 1500 pupils attending public schools, and 250 attending other schools. Quarries of building stone are worked near the county seat. The Des Plaines River furnishes water power. The county is intersected by the Illinois and Michigan canal, by the Chicago Branch of the Central railroad, the Chicago and Mississippi and by the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad. Population, about 19,000.”[3]

Julia’s father worked as a farmer so was perhaps growing corn or grain.[4] Later, he worked in the quarries as a stone mason.[5]

Further information about city of Joliet was in the gazetteer.

“A city in the township of the same name, and capital of Will County, situated on the Des Plaines River, the Illinois and Michigan canal, the Chicago and Rock Island, and the Chicago, Alton and St. Louis Railroads, 40 miles from Chicago; the northern Indiana and Joliet railroad, and the Joliet and Mendota railroad also terminate here.

“It contains, beside the county buildings, six fine churches, seven or eight large warehouses, eight large hotels, two splendid school houses, two newspaper offices, a fine and commodious city hall, eight or ten fine blocks of stores, built of brick and stone, one chartered bank, and several private boarding houses; a gas company has been organized here, who will erect extensive works in the spring. The new state penitentiary is located near the city, and when completed will not be excelled by any similar institution in the United States.

“It also contains two flouring mills, one saw mill and five or six quite extensive lumber yards. The stone quarries in this place are inexhaustible, yielding annually immense quantities of beautiful blue and white stone, unequaled by any in the state for building purposes, and are an invaluable source of wealth. It is surrounded by a rich and beautiful country, and may be considered one of the best locations in the state for manufacturing purposes, as it has a water power unsurpassed by any place in the west. It is favorably situated for health, and its commercial advantages are superior. Population, between 7,000 and 8,000.”[6]

This description helps me visualize the city of Joliet. Citizens attended church, shopped, and had access to a number of jobs working in the industries.

A later gazetteer for the years 1864-65 had some statistical data for the county: 

“In 1861, there were 12,262 horses, 36, 225 cattle, 8,389 sheep, and 11,181 swine owned in the county. Products—wheat, 497,335 bushels; corn 3,805050 bushels; besides 4,140 acres of hay, oats, rye, potatoes, &c. According to the State Superintendent’s report for 1862, there were 8,244 persons between the ages of five and twenty-one, and 8,111 scholars attending the public schools, which were in session an average of 7.3 months during the year.”[7]

I wonder if the data on the agriculture was taken from the 1860 U.S. census’ agricultural schedule. It looks like most of the children in the area attended school and perhaps Julia was one of them.

The pages in the gazetteer for Joliet included “The population of Joliet is between 8,000 and 9,000. There are nice churches in the city, viz: Congregational, two Catholic, Baptist (old), German Lutheran, Evangelical, Methodist (brick), Universalist (stone), and Episcopal. The free schools of Joliet afford facilities for giving all classes a good English and classical education; two school houses having been built by the city at a cost of about $25,000. Two papers, the Signal and Republican are published weekly. There are four Masonic societies, two lodges of Odd Fellows, and two Lodges of Good Templars.”[8]

It is helpful to know there were two newspapers published in that time period. I can now check the various newspaper websites to see if either of the papers are available digitally, and if not, then check libraries and archives for a source.

Maps from Atlases
Now to locate maps of the area for the years 1850s-1870s. These first group of maps were located at David Ramsey Map Collection. This beautiful map of Joliet Township, dated 1873, came from an atlas of Will County.[9] I believe, from the census record, that the Sievert family lived in the upper area of township 9. This map shows clearly the railroads that passed through town as well as the canal and river.

Another map in the same book gives more detail in the city of Joliet.[10] I have cropped the portion showing the second ward. Here we can see locations of the quarries. They lived on Hickory Street which is in the green section. At the bottom of the map, we can see the St. John’s German Catholic Church, as it was called in that time period.

The book also had an engraving of the quarries.[11] The Illinois and Michigan Canal can be seen in the foreground and the Des Plaines River in the background, so likely this quarry was located south of Joliet. But it still gives a sense of what the quarries were like.

Fire Insurance Maps
I also found Sanborn Fire Insurance maps, the earliest published February 1886, on the Library of Congress site. This first map is the index, and the numbers indicate the page numbers of the other maps.[12]

They lived in north Joliet and very few buildings were included in this issue. However, the church, St. Johns, was south of Division Street and shows up on page 13.[13] Here, we can see its shape, what materials it is made from (stone), that it has two furnaces and lights with candles. I also see on the opposite corner a school. Did Julia attend the catholic school? Was it even there in the 1860s?

Topo Maps
Lastly, I found an historic topographic map of Will County in the area of Joliet, dated 1892.[14] The scale does not bring it down to a detailed level and is better for showing the surround area. This map shows the railroads clearly as well as the watersheds, included the river, creeks, and canal. I am only showing the corner with Joliet showing.

Conclusion
By locating these gazetteer and maps of both Joliet and Will County, I have a better understanding of the place where my Sievert ancestors lived.

But I am not done. All sources always point us to other sources. Some tasks I could do:

• Read about the history of quarries.
• Locate the agriculture schedule for 1860 and 1870 for Will County, if it still exists.
• Locate a history of St. John’s German Catholic Church.
• Look for a map produced earlier than 1873. Perhaps there are land ownership maps.
• Get the deed records for the Sieverts. They were not filmed by Genealogical Society of Utah (predecessor to FamilySearch) and I have reached out to a researcher in the area to see if the deed records could be obtained for me.

What can maps do to jumpstart your genealogy research?

---

[1] I am omitting the citations for the timeline as it would make the post too long. However, I am citing the sources used for the gazetteers and maps to assist others in locating similar items.

[2] “Will County, Illinois Genealogy,” FamilySearch Wiki (https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Will_County,_Illinois_Genealogy).

[3] George W. Hawes, Illinois State Gazetteer and Business Directory for 1858 and 1859, (Chicago: George W. Hawes, 1858), 227-28; imaged at Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/illinoisstategaz00hawe/page/n1/mode/2up).

[4] 1860 U.S. census, Will Co, Illinois, pop sched, Joliet, p. 612 (penned), household 2791/2721, Vincent Sever, digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com); NARA microfilm publication M653, roll 238.

[5] 1870 U.S. census, Will Co, Illinois, pop. sched, Joliet 2nd ward, pg 19, p 211 (stamped), 133/159, Vincent Seivert, digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com); NARA M593, roll 291.

[6] Hawes, Illinois State Gazetteer, 115-116.

[7] J.C.W. Bailey, Illinois State Gazetteer and Business Directory for the years 1864-65, (Chicago: J.C.W. Bailey, 1864), “Will County,” 96-97; imaged at Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/illinoisstategaz00bail/page/n5/mode/2up).

[8] Ibid, “Joliet,” 415-16.

[9] Thompson Bro’s & Burr, Combination Atlas map of Will County, Illinois, (Elgin, Ill: Thompson Bro’s & Burr, 1873), Map of Joliet Township, p. 51; imaged at David Ramsey Map Collection (https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~253565~5518977:Joliet-Township,-Town-35-N--Range-1;JSESSIONID=f21c5d7d-3965-4bf2-a57a-771453da7ffc : accessed 15 Apr 2022).

[10] Ibid, Map of the City of Joliet, Will County, Illinois, bet p. 51 and 52, (https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~253566~5518978:Joliet,-Will-County,-Illinois-).  

[11] Ibid, Joliet Quarries, p. 53, (https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~253571~5518980).  

[12] Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, Joliet, Will County, Illinois, Feb 1886, map 1, Library of Congress (http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g4104jm.g019421886).

[13] Ibid, map 13.

[14] United States Geological Survey, TopoView (https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/topoview/viewer/#13/41.5338/-88.1038), Illinois Joliet Sheet, 1892, 1:62500.

Copyright © 2022 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.