Several types of maps are useful for genealogists. Some give historical background of the area or show migration routes such as roads, rivers, and railroads. Topographical maps show physical features, such as creeks and hills, and man-made features, such as roads, cemeteries, and churches. Plat and land ownership maps and other types of maps are described in the “Maps” section of the United States Research Outline (30972). Many maps are in published atlases. In the Locality Search of the Family History Library Catalog, atlases and maps are both listed under the heading “Maps.”

The Auburn University Library Special Collections Department has an extensive collection of maps of Alabama. The Family History Library has a few historical maps and general highway maps.

Maps for 1800, 1808, 1809, 1812, 1815, 1818, 1820, 1823, 1825, 1830, 1832, 1840, 1850, 1870, and 1903 are included in Marilyn Davis Barefield’s Researching in Alabama: A Genealogical Guide cited in the “For Further Reading” section of this outline on pages 24–39.

Maps showing county boundaries, rivers, railroads, townships, roads, mountains, valleys, and other geographic features for Alabama for 1823, 1838, 1862, and 1960 and a map showing the Alabama area during the Revolutionary War period are in the following book:

Jackson, Richard C. Historical and Genealogical Atlas of North America. Provo, Utah: Gentech Press, 1974. (FHL book 973 E3j; film 908951 item2; computer number 266985.) See pages 36 and 93.

Two statewide atlases are:

Dodd, Donald B. Historical Atlas of Alabama. Tuscaloosa, Ala.: University of Alabama Press, 1974. (FHL 976.1 E7d; computer number 248021.) Included are maps that show the location of forts, Indian land cessions with their dates, and county boundaries from 1819 to 1972.

Alabama: Atlas of Historical County Boundaries. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1996. (FHL 976.1 E3s; computer number 785282.) This book has maps showing when and where each county changed boundaries.

In the Locality Search of the Family History Library Catalog, atlases and maps may be found under:

ALABAMA- MAPSALABAMA, [COUNTY]- MAPSALABAMA, [COUNTY], [TOWN]- MAPS

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