DearMYRTLE - Township Maps

Providing practical, down-to-earth advice for family historians since 1995, online since 1985.

Township Maps

From: Marian Johnson
DearMYRTLE,
I would like to know if you know of any site online that has maps of the townships within the counties of the United States.

DearMARYANN,
Indeed there are a number of township map projects on the web. Indeed maps of all sorts are so plentiful, you'll more than likely be able to find references to maps of the area where your ancestors once lived, even if we're talking decades or centuries in the past.

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SOME ARE AVAILABLE AT USGENWEB STATE SITES
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-- Oklahoma Township Maps http://www.rootsweb.com/~okgenweb/twpmaps/ This website also explains how sections within a township are numbered: "Sections measure one mile square. These sections are numbered beginning with sec.1 on the northeast corner and continues to the west, south to 7, east to 12. The pattern is repeated until all 36 sections are number. This represents 36 Sq. miles."

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SOME ARE PROVIDED BY STATE AGENCIES
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-- Pennsylvania Township Search http://www.psats.org/tsearch.html

-- Stats Indiana http://www.stats.indiana.edu/maptools/townships.htm

-- IRAD Illinois http://www.toi.org/mapsbody.htm

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SOME ARE PROVIDED BY OTHER ORGANIZATIONS
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-- Minnesota township maps were prepared by the Koochiching County Engineer's office, last updated 1991. http://www.titleminnesota.com/townlinks.htm

-- Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Maps for sale http://genealogy.lv/1864Lancaster/townships.htm

-- USGeological Survey Maps http://www.usgs.gov/

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SOME ARE HIGHLY DETAILED
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If you are interested in the united counties of Leeds & Grenville in Ontario Canada, check out the highly detailed map showing all the roads within the township, the Heritage Map of the Township of Rideau Lakes http://www.twprideaulakes.on.ca/heritage/rideaulakes-heritage-map.pdf

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SOME ARE MODERN WHILE THESE ARE FROM PREVIOUS CENTURIES
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-- Canadian County Atlas Project - Maritimes, Ontario & Quebec http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/CountyAtlas/aboutatlases.html "Between 1874 and 1881, approximately forty county atlases were published in Canada, covering counties in the Maritimes, Ontario and Quebec. Thirty-two of these atlases were produced for Ontario by the following five companies: H. Belden & Co. (17); H.R. Page & Co. (8); Walker & Miles (5); J.H. Meacham & Co. (1); H. Parsell (1). Two types of county atlases exist for Ontario, those which covered a single county or multiple adjacent counties, and those which were published as supplements to Dominion of Canada atlases. In total, 40 Ontario counties were covered by these 32 atlases."

-- USGenWeb Digital Map Library http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/maps/

-- For an example of how boundaries changed over the years we note that on 17 May 1873, the board of supervisors divided the county into eight political townships: Red Land, Lee, Saline, White Oak, Whiteville, Smith, Miller, and Harper in Cleveland County, Arkansas http://www.rootsweb.com/~arclevel/township_maps.htm

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LOCATING MAPS
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How did ol' Myrt here locate these map sites listed above? Well, I spent about 10 minutes at Google.com (didn't even use Google Maps) and searched for the term 'townland map' (without quotes.)

I decided to get more specific, and Googled for 'king county township maps' and was given the following useful site:

-- King County WA Map Portal http://www.metrokc.gov/gis/mapportal/

Indeed, maps (including township maps) are so plentiful, that ol' Myrt cannot possibly mention them all here. Try Googling on your own for a specific locality at http://www.Google.com to see what you can find.

Happy family tree climbing!
Myrt :)
DearMYRTLE,
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