Maps, Maps, Maps!

Part of the fun of history and genealogy, for me anyway, is imagining what life was like for my ancestors and those around them.  The census records, death certificates, and other written evidence of our ancestor's lives are great - but I like to have something a little more tangible.  So I've gotten into the habit of creating custom Google Maps (marking locations of people and places on a real satellite image) to see the big picture of the world our ancestors lived in.  Who were their neighbors? What did their land look like? Where did they attend church and school?

I've already posted a map of the Metz Fire of 1908, which can be found a few posts down.

Another project that is very near completion and has been quite an undertaking, is the schools, churches, cemeteries, post offices, stores, and more of Presque Isle County as found on the 1903 Plat Map.

View Presque Isle County in 1903 in a larger map

The ladies from the Presque Isle GenWeb website, who have contributed so much to the project, went around taking photos of many of the sites on the map so I could add them. A photo will pop up for many of the schools, churches, and cemeteries you click on. A huge thank you goes out to BJ and Janet who helped with this!

Another project I'm just starting which is sure to be a long time coming is actually platting out all of Presque Isle and Alpena Counties - recreating the property lines of 1903 and placing markers on the exact location of the homes. So far, only Sections 1 - 12 of Belknap Township, Presque Isle are complete. Please check back periodically for new additions. On the sidebar to the left, residents are arranged by section, and if you click on a name it will take you to their home on the map. The map works best at about 2/3 of the way zoomed in.


View 1903 Belknap Twp Homesteads in a larger map

If you want to find out where your ancestor lived, but it's not on the map yet, check out Historic MapWorks which has an amazingly good zoomable scan of the 1903 Alpena, Presque Isle, and Montmorency Plat Book I'm working from.  Please leave a comment if you have any questions, corrections, or want to find out where your ancestor lived.  I'd be glad to help!

Interactive Metz Fire Map

View Metz Fire in a larger map


With the 102nd anniversary of the Metz Fire coming up on October 15, I decided to create a Google Map for those interested in the subject.  The map paints a picture of the events of that day and the widespread destruction caused by the fire.  Included are the site of the train car disaster, the depot, homes of those killed in the fire, cemeteries where victims are buried, and more.  Photos are included where available and relevant.

To use the map, find the area you're interested in and zoom in, or just click one of the icons. Information, and a picture if available, will pop up for that site, like this.

If you have something to add to the map, or a correction, please let me know and I'll be glad to include your suggestions!

Using Maps to Paint a Picture

One of the things I've been doing to better visualize what our area used to look like is using the 1903 Plat book and current day Google Maps to find where the homes/schools/post offices, etc of the day were on a modern day map. It helps to paint a picture of which people were neighbors, which landmarks they lived near, and where they would have gone to school and conducted business.

This week, in my Bell frenzy, I started a map showing what Presque Isle Township looked like in 1903. I will publish the link when I have more done, but here's the basic idea:



The colored rectangles are the acreage owned by the residents and the house icons are their homes. When you click on an icon, the description will pop up - the Bell School is selected for example. Upon zooming in, you get very detailed aerial shots and are able to see the exact locations of homes, outlines of old roads, and clearings where buildings used to stand. This tool has proven most useful in providing me with a picture of what the community was like over 100 years ago.

I'm also working on a broader map of Presque Isle County which includes churches, cemeteries, schools, lumber mills, and other landmarks. The focus of this one is more on landmarks and less on land ownership because it is so big. The map does however include photos of almost every schoolhouse, church, and cemetery left standing among other landmarks, thanks to BJ over at Presque Isle County GenWeb who is taking photos for me in my absence. I hope someday to plat out the entire county.



The process of creating these maps can be tedious and time-consuming, but it's well worth it to me because it makes it easier for us to relate to the people and places of the past when we're able to compare them against modern-day landmarks.