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If you don't know where you're going, how will you know when you get there? Sounds like a goofy question, but if you're trying to compare towns and geographical districts from another century with what exists in the same place today, you'll quickly realize that you need more than a Trip-Tik from your favorite automobile club. That's where old local maps, atlases and gazetteers can help.
An atlas is a collection of maps and other information pertaining to a particular geographical location. A gazetteer is a topographical or geographical dictionary that defines a specific location, including local industries, nearby towns and primary landowners. Both tools give you an immediate sense of the place you're researching and its proximity to other locations.
I found two good examples of atlases online. One is the 1872 atlas of Fayette County, Pa., which can be viewed at www.rootsweb.com/usgenweb/maps where you'll find maps for all states. The county is separated into townships. Districts are named for the largest landowners. Individual farms are also noted. You can instantly see which families were neighbors. The exact location of the Elm Postal District might be of particular interest to a researcher because it no longer exists. The Franklin County, Pa., public library has an 1868 atlas of that county on its site at www.fclspa.org Locations of cemeteries in use at that time, business directories, farm production and the number of roads in each township are included.
Another handy site at www.genealogyinc.com/maps/uscf.htm provides the date a county was formed, a brief history and census maps for about 30 states.
Researching both here and across the pond? Check out www.alexandria.ucsb.edu/gazetteer/dgie/DGIE_website/gaz_links.htm You'll find links to online gazetteers and other related sites for the United States and abroad. I clicked on global gazetteer and randomly chose Austria. I clicked on cities and towns that begin with the letter "C." When I clicked on Celovec, I could see exactly where it is located within the country.
The University of California, Davis sponsors a Web site at www.lib.ucdavis.edu/govdoc/MapCollection/map_about.html Click on gazetteers and you'll find a guide to the United States, Australia, Canada, Poland and Russia, among others.
The Genuki site at www.genuki.org.uk/big/Gazetteers.html contains a searchable database of places named in the 1891 census covering England, Wales and the Isle of Man. You'll get the roll and page number of where to find that particular area on the 1891 census. Nothing for Scotland or Ireland here, though.
Two private sites I happened to run across will interest those with ancestors from Prussia and Croatia. The Mathia family sponsors the one at www.mathia.org Click on history and then maps. The East-West Prussia Gazetteer will give you the current Polish names for old German names. Robert Jerin hosts a site at www.croatia-in-english.com/index.html for anyone interested in Croatia. Maps, gazetteers, city and town locator and tips for researching Croatian roots are included.
Since there are so few atlases and gazetteers online, the main public library or the land transaction office in the county where you're researching is probably the best place to look. Locally, the Largo Library has maps and atlases for a number of states.
Looking to match a specific city with the right state? Go to www.census.gov/cgi-bin/gazetteer the map site sponsored by the Census Bureau. The data are based on the 1990 census. Unincorporated place names are not included, but it's a nifty guide.
Another good search aide is at www.getty.edu Go to Research Institute, click on conducting research and click on Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names.
Still didn't find what you needed? Try Cyndi's List at www.cyndislist.com Choose maps and gazetteers under categories; you'll find a selection of sites ranging from the home page of Hungarian Cartography to GEOserve, a locator of current German towns.
Read past Donna Murray Allen columns online at www.sptimes.com Type "Donna Murray Allen" in the search box. You can write to Allen c/o Floridian, St. Petersburg Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731, or e-mail her at rootscolumn@yahoo.com Her Web site: www.rootsdetective.com includes information on classes and lectures.