A complete map index is located in drawer 11. Please ask the librarian for access to a particular map from this index. Maps are not only useful for determining geographic locations, but they are also helpful when used in conjunction with the federal censuses and tax records. By utilizing these records, a researcher can check migration patterns, economic status, and changes in boundaries. Censuses can supply the researcher with a wealth of knowledge, i.e. names of parents, ages, birthplaces, educational levels, marital status, and occupations.
Censuses are only valuable when they are used correctly and thoroughly.
Also, please note that the government did not list all persons living in a household until 1850. Think about phonetic spellings, as well as silent letters. This point is significant, because census takers sometimes misunderstood vowel sounds, or may have spelled phonetically. Also, indexers made typographical errors or transposed letters on the indexes, or simply misread the name from the actual hand-written documents. A handbook to the federal census is available on the Genealogy Table in the Society s library.