52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – Week 39: Map It Out—My Love Affair With Maps

This is my second year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow. I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails Into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.

I love maps. I have had a love affair with maps since that wonderful day in 5th grade when Mrs. Griffin, our teacher, gave each of us a folded travel map from a local gas station. We first learned how to unfold and refold the map properly. Then we completed exercises about the symbols in the key, and how to use the map to get from one place to another.

From ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/10-Vintage-California-Gas-Station-Official-Road-Maps-1964-1971/183791501448?hash=item2acad3c088:g:vYEAAOSwEflcxgBP

I totally understood the map! It was the first time that I totally “got” what a teacher was teaching, and I “got” it before many of the other pupils. If I had known sooner that I could have majored in geography in college, I would have. Instead I majored in biological sciences. I did discover geography classes in my junior year when needing to take some social studies electives.

I get maps because I think spatially. I would rather have directions given to me with a drawn map than verbal or written directions. Growing up, I paid attention to landmarks when riding in our family car (unless I was reading a book). Once I had my license, I could drive the fifty-plus miles to my grandmother’s house. I knew which freeways to take and the correct exit.

Paper maps are still my favorite. On my last road trip with a girl friend, we were using her iPad for our directions. It drove me crazy not being able to see the big picture of where we were going. I made her stop so I could buy a paper map of Ohio. Now I could see what landmarks were ahead of us.

Maps are also useful in genealogy. I learn more about an ancestor once I place him or her on a map. I can learn how close they lived to the county seat or to the county border. Maps can show physical barriers like rivers and mountains that could restrict movement to the courthouse in their own county and thus the reason they recorded their deed, got married, or baptized their children in the next county.

One map was very helpful to me. In Carleton County, Ontario, Canada, there were many church records microfilmed and available at the Family History Library. I checked the two closest parishes to where my Tierney & Gleeson families lived but could not find John Gleeson & Margaret Tierney’s marriage record. There were other parishes also microfilmed and I wanted to figure out which were the closest to their residence. This map showed the townships and helped me determine which were close enough and which were too far away.

This is but one example of how I have used published maps in my research. I have also drawn maps to help place land descriptions of my ancestor’s property. Maps are so helpful in our research.

Copyright © 2019 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.