Maps are used to locate the places where your ancestor lived. They identify political boundaries, names of places, geographical features, cemeteries, churches, and migration routes. Historical maps are especially useful for finding communities that no longer exist.

The Kentucky Department of Commerce in Frankfort has a large collection of maps and atlases for the state. The Kentucky Historical Society and the University of Kentucky in Lexington also have good collections. Some maps and atlases for Kentucky include the following:

Kentucky: Atlas of Historical County Boundaries. New York: Charles Schribner’s Sons, 1995. (FHL book 976.9 E3k; computer number 783902.) This volume contains maps of each county of Kentucky that trace the boundary changes that occurred. It is part of a project of the Newberry Library to create historic county atlases for each of the 48 states of the continental United States.

Puetz, C. J. Kentucky County Maps. Lyndon Station, Wis.: County Maps, [1990?]. (FHL book Q 976.9 E7p; computer number 699678.) This book contains detailed maps of each county with towns, roads, points of interest, and major rivers and creeks.

Rone, Wendell H. An Historical Atlas of Kentucky and Her Counties: Daviess County, 1815–1965. Sesquicentennial ed. Owensboro, Ky.: Progress Printing , 1965. (FHL book 976.9 E7ro; computer number 220003.) This atlas contains maps showing changes in county boundaries and charts showing the county name origins, formation dates, acreage, and population by census year.

Streams of Kentucky. [N.p.]: Kentucky Department of Commerce, 1973. (FHL map 976.9 E7s; computer number 18225.) This map shows major and minor waterways of Kentucky, with county boundaries and county seats, and can be used to help determine migration routes and settlement patterns in the state.

The Family History Library has city ward maps of Louisville for 1861, 1868, 1873, and 1882. These help with searches of the 1860 to 1880 censuses.

Ward Maps of United States Cities: Microfilm Reproduction of 232 Maps Described in Ward Maps of United States Cities. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, [1975?] (FHL film 1377700; fiche 6016667–70 [containing Louisville, Ky.]; computer number 181937.)

See the “Gazetteers” section of this outline and the “Gazetteers” and “Maps” sections of the United States Research Outline (30972) for more resources regarding places in Kentucky. Also check the Locality Search of the Family History Library Catalog under:

KENTUCKY- MAPSKENTUCKY, [COUNTY]- MAPSKENTUCKY, [COUNTY], [TOWN]- MAPSKENTUCKY- GAZETTEERSKENTUCKY- HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHYKENTUCKY- NAMES, GEOGRAPHICALKENTUCKY- MIGRATION, INTERNAL

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