Who, What, When, Where, and How = WHY

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[Valorie] In our research, we're always seeking to establish identity, relationships, locality, occupations, and most of all, to understand the lives of our forebears.

WHO includes everyone, not just our "direct" ancestors, but their families, friends, enemies, neighbors, fellow congregants and club members, colleagues, competitors, fellow travelers and "kin," however they defined that. We know where to find them—census (including agriculture and manufacturing schedules), tax lists, newspaper articles, city directories, club rosters, church records, family photos, scrapbooks, county histories and so on. Critical, specific information was the plot of land where they made a living, alongside neighbors and relatives.  


Where? MAPS

How about maps as a tool to help? In preparation for today's workshop on platting, I watched a very old Legacy webinar by Mark Lowe of Kentucky and Tennessee, about how to use the plats to learn more about our ancestors than I thought possible. Even if you are not interested in platting lands described by metes and bounds, I urge you to watch this one! Basics of Land Platting – Part 2 is not a flashy title, but the resources Lowe discusses are ones we can ALL use, whether we have farmers in our trees or not! Humans gotta eat, so we all rely on what grows around us, even meat-eaters. 

Lowe uses a term which to me sounds like it belongs in an old vampire movie: cadastral maps, which are detailed maps that show land ownership, boundaries, and other physical characteristics of a specific area. They are used for land management, urban planning, and real estate transactions. A quick web search brought this to to the top: Land Status & Cadastral Survey Records Willamette Meridian - Oregon and Washington States. Interesting, eh? NARA is full of maps; find them searching for "cadastral maps." (More about cadastral map availability below.)

Some of the other topics covered besides various software packages, are the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries from the Newberry Library, Historical Soil Survey Maps which cover all 50 states, as well as state sites, for modern soil surveys. As Lowe says in this lecture, describe what type of soil is on the land, and you know what sort of life they lived there.

One feature of David Rumsey Maps is that they can be "georeferenced;" historical maps can be overlaid by modern ones. Lisa Louise Cooke has shown how to do this in Google Maps and Google Earth. What a great way to plan a research trip—visit that land that nourished our ancestors!


[MaryLynn] One of the most valuable sources for land information is at the General Land Office, Bureau of Land Management glorecords.blm.gov. Most of us have traced the paths of our ancestors on their trek westward from homestead to homestead.  The application files give us a wealth of information about their lives and accomplishments.

But most of us don't take advantage of all the information available at the site, looking only at the patent information. Did you know that survey field notes and plat images might also be available; just a click away from your screen?

By selecting "Related Documents" we may gain access to other information about this land.  (Not all survey information is available at this website.)

By Selecting "Surveys" and the "Plat Image", I received the plat map from 1893. Remembering that the land patent was for Section 18, the NW Aliquot, I was able to determine that the land my GGGrandfather Solomon Stowe received in 1895 is the highlighted portion on the plat map below.



[Valorie] There are many ways to answer all the questions we have about the lives of those who went before us. We cannot neglect a major aspect of their lives, where they raised families and made a living, if we want a full picture. 


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Send your stories to m.strickland@skcgs.org


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