[Research Guidance: United States - Research Outline] Research Guidance Version Of Data : 6/9/2001

GAZETTEERS

A gazetteer is a list and description of places. It can be used to locate the places where your family lived. Gazetteers describe towns and villages, sizes of population, rivers and mountains, and other geographical features. They usually include only the names of places that existed at the time the gazetteer was published. The place names are generally listed in alphabetical order, similar to a dictionary.

Modern Place Names

Place Names in the Family History Library Catalog. Places are listed by their modern names and boundaries. The catalog includes only places for which the library has records.

In the microfiche catalog, you can find the current county and state for a town. See the pointers on the first Locality Search microfiche for each state. For example, this pointer shows Chicago is located in Cook County:

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS -----> ILLINOIS, COOK, CHICAGO.

In the compact disc catalog, see the Locality Browse Look this term up in the glossary. to list:

All the towns in the catalog alphabetically.
All the towns in the catalog in the same county.
All the counties in the catalog in the same state.

Other Sources of Place Information. For more comprehensive information, see:

Bullinger's Postal and Shippers Guide for the United States & Canada, annual. Westwood, N.J.: Bullinger's Guides, 1871-. (FHL book 970 E8b; 1961 edition on film 483709; computer number 32238.) It is available at most large libraries.

Other helpful books or records are listed in the Locality Search of the Family History Library Catalog under:

UNITED STATES - NAMES, GEOGRAPHICALUNITED STATES - GAZETTEERS

Two national gazetteers are:

Abate, Frank R., ed. American Places Dictionary: A Guide to 45,000 Populated Places, Natural Features, and Other Places in the United States. 4 vols. Detroit: Omnigraphics, 1994. (FHL book 973 E5a; computer number 761823.)

Abate, Frank R., ed. Omni Gazetteer of the United States of America: Providing Name, Location, and Identification for Nearly 1,500,000 Populated Places, Structures, Facilities, Locales, Historic Places, and Geographic Features in the Fifty States . . . 11 vols. Detroit: Omnigraphics, 1991. (FHL book 973 E5o; computer number 620916.)

Historical Place Names

Because names and boundaries of some places have changed or no longer exist, you may need to use sources that describe places as they were known earlier. An example of a national gazetteer that identifies places in the United States as of 1884 is:

de Colange, Leo. The National Gazetteer. London: Hamilton, Adams, and Co., 1884. (FHL book 973 E5c; film 845264; fiche 6046725; computer number 266807.)

Some additional pre-1900 U.S. gazetteers are:

�1797
fiche 6010048-54; computer number 263034

�1834
fiche 6010021-24; computer number 266821

�1853
fiche 6046770; computer number 266808

�1855
fiche 6010028-32; computer number 137569

These sources are listed in the Locality Search of the Family History Library Catalog under UNITED STATES - GAZETTEERS. Gazetteers and similar guides to place names for most states are listed in the Locality Search under [STATE] - GAZETTEERS. For bibliographies of gazetteers see:

Grim, Ronald E. Historical Geography of the United States: A Guide to Information Sources. Detroit: Gale Research, 1982. (FHL book 973 E33g; computer number 248947.)

Sealock, Richard B., ed., et. al. Bibliography of Place- Name Literature, United States and Canada. 3rd ed. Chicago: American Library Assoc., 1982. (FHL book 970 E23s 1982; computer number 247012.)

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