Maps are an important source to locate the places where your ancestors lived. They help you see the neighboring towns and geographic features of the area your ancestor came from.

Maps locate places, churches, geographical features, transportation routes, and proximity to other towns. Historical maps are especially useful for understanding boundary changes.

Maps are published individually, or in atlases. An atlas is a bound collection of maps. Maps may also be included in gazetteers, guidebooks, local histories, and history texts.

Different types of maps will help you in different ways. Historical atlases describe the growth and development of nations. They show boundaries, migration routes, settlement patterns, military campaigns, and other historical information. French road atlases provide useful details. Other types of maps include departmental maps, topographical maps, and road maps. Maps show townships in great detail up to one-half inch to the mile. City street maps can be helpful when researching in the parish registers of large cities such as Lyon.

Using Maps

Maps must be used carefully for several reasons:

• Often several places have the same name. For example, at least ten towns are called Saint-Clément in present-day France.
• Not every town is on every map.
• The spelling and even names of some towns may have changed since your ancestors lived there. For example, Crantenoy became Mesnils sur Madon (Les) in 1971.
• Some localities have different names in different languages. For example, the French town of Sélestat is called Schlettstadt in German. Bretagne is spelled Brittany in English.
• •Political boundaries are not clearly indicated on all maps.
• Complete listings of localities in the old provinces or dioceses are difficult to find.