Nothing but Fridays

What do you know about your state? What do you know about the area that your family lived? Is it still there? Has something historical happened there? Where were the borders and where are they now? 

These are only a few questions that I ask when someone wants to know why they just can't seem to place their family in the right county or state when they are researching.  As the country grew and expanded, so did the borders and also the city landscape itself. 

The map on the left shows an ever changing state boundry between Mississippi and Alabama. The map on the right shows several towns that now no longer exist by those names, and in fact, not at all even though they were once bustling towns. 

Explore old maps by starting with your favorite search engine and typing in the county, city and /or state that you are looking for. If you are lucky, you'll find a treasure or two like these below, that told me where a town was that had the same name as another. 

When you are researching - note town names and remember them. Googlemaps is a useful tool for plotting out your ancestors migratory habits as destinations, or plotting a whole family out.  While it takes some careful thought when doing that, it's well worth the effort in the end so Enjoy your Adventures In Genealogy!!