Map made by Army of Northern Virginia Engineers shows the exact spot where my relatives lived

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As you know I had four relatives from Mecklenburg County, Virginia. All served in Pickett's Division (at some point) and lived in the Postal district of Clarksville, Virginia. John, Matthew, and James were brothers, and Matthew Chandler was their uncle.

Pvt.Matthew Chandler - 14th Virginia Infantry Company G age 40 years old - Farmer
Cpl.John Chandler - 56th Virginia Infantry Company A age 20 years old - Farmer
Pvt.Matthew Chandler - 56th Virginia Infantry Company A age 19 years old - Farmer
Pvt.James Chandler - 56th Virginia Infantry Company A age 18 years old - Farmer

In case you don't know where Mecklenburg County, Virginia is
Location_of_Mecklenburg_County,_Virginia.png



This Map was made circa 1864 By the Confederate Engineering office of the Army of Northern Virginia.

jp2.py.jpeg

So here is the map, and if you zoom in on the Southwest Corner of the Clarksville Area.....


Screen Shot 2014-07-24 at 12.53.39 PM.png


Then in the extreme Southwest Part of the County, Very close the neighboring Halifax County, Virginia and Granville County, North Carolina
Screen Shot 2014-07-24 at 12.59.03 PM.png


As you can see in the southwest corner there are two names

J.T. Chandler, which is Matthew,James,and John's father John Young Chandler and his farm
and further up the road there is a lone "Chandler" name which is most likely John Young Chandler's brother Matthew who served in the civil war (see above). There also at the end of the road a "Chandler's Mill" but it looks to be in Halifax County. I read some where that one of the fishing pond there is also named "Chandler's Pond" but have not found its exact location.

So I zoomed in on the area today on google maps, and one of the roads in that same area of Southwest Mecklenburg County, is named "CHANDLER FARM ROAD." So part of my family has a street named after them, that's pretty neat!
 
That is so cool ! I'm really happy for you; a find like that is priceless.

I had a similar, but not as grand, map finding a number of years back. I was trying to locate the farm where my grandfather was born and I hit on an 1876 map of Sumer Co, TN that was sort of a tax map that showed surnames. The name showed up near other places that I knew were close by to the farm. It's a common surname there, though, so I had to do some tax searches but it enabled me to narrow it down to a manageable area and sure enough it turned out to be the farm. In time I contacted the owner and he actually called me on the phone. It was swell.

And ain't maps swell, too ? They tell stories.
 
That is so cool ! I'm really happy for you; a find like that is priceless.

I had a similar, but not as grand, map finding a number of years back. I was trying to locate the farm where my grandfather was born and I hit on an 1876 map of Sumer Co, TN that was sort of a tax map that showed surnames. The name showed up near other places that I knew were close by to the farm. It's a common surname there, though, so I had to do some tax searches but it enabled me to narrow it down to a manageable area and sure enough it turned out to be the farm. In time I contacted the owner and he actually called me on the phone. It was swell.

And ain't maps swell, too ? They tell stories.

Maps are awesome! You never know what your going to find, you can easily research to see what county and state your ancestors lived in, but to be able to pin point the exact location, now you can have an idea of what the area looks like, and visit the place. It won't 100 percent accurately tell you the story of their lives, but will give you an overview of what their surrounding were. John Young Chandler was pretty well to do, I believe he was a Middle Class Independent Farmer. I think that part of the Virginia/North Carolina border is known for growing tobacco.
 
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That is so cool ! I'm really happy for you; a find like that is priceless.

I had a similar, but not as grand, map finding a number of years back. I was trying to locate the farm where my grandfather was born and I hit on an 1876 map of Sumer Co, TN that was sort of a tax map that showed surnames. The name showed up near other places that I knew were close by to the farm. It's a common surname there, though, so I had to do some tax searches but it enabled me to narrow it down to a manageable area and sure enough it turned out to be the farm. In time I contacted the owner and he actually called me on the phone. It was swell.

And ain't maps swell, too ? They tell stories.

I had family in Sumner Co TN as well - a good bit earlier though - about 1815-1820, somewhere in there. It is so incredible to visit the land where one's ancestors lived. My favorite time was like walking on holy ground - Bedford Co VA, ca. 1985, on land that my relatives had bought almost 200 yrs before that. At the time of my visit (and subsequent ones), the house (barn in later years) was still standing but has since collapsed and faded into the dirt.
 
I had family in Sumner Co TN as well - a good bit earlier though - about 1815-1820, somewhere in there. It is so incredible to visit the land where one's ancestors lived. My favorite time was like walking on holy ground - Bedford Co VA, ca. 1985, on land that my relatives had bought almost 200 yrs before that. At the time of my visit (and subsequent ones), the house (barn in later years) was still standing but has since collapsed and faded into the dirt.

It always nice to be able to find where your ancestors live, when families move sometimes those families tend to forget about where they come from and if they are not interested in family history, usually you have to do a lot of digging to find out information like that.

Not that its a bad thing, but when families move to a new place, they sometimes adopt the culture and language of that new area.
 
I had family in Sumner Co TN as well - a good bit earlier though - about 1815-1820, somewhere in there. It is so incredible to visit the land where one's ancestors lived. My favorite time was like walking on holy ground - Bedford Co VA, ca. 1985, on land that my relatives had bought almost 200 yrs before that. At the time of my visit (and subsequent ones), the house (barn in later years) was still standing but has since collapsed and faded into the dirt.

Well, my people no-doubt knew yours. The property goes back in ownership to the early 1800s. I just didn't know where it was and the 1876 map was the ticket that led me to it's location. It was in the family for about 140 years. The man who bought it was from a neighboring family that goes back about as far. I imagine he's gone now but I hope maybe somebody in his family inherited it. Small world eh ?
 
That is a very detailed map.
Interesting to see how populated the area was at that time. It appears to be a rural area but I don't know if there is a large town to the West.

Halifax County, Virginia is to the west, No Big towns there.

Though Pittsylvania County, Virginia is next to Halifax and the center of Pittsylvania County is Danville which is a fairly large town.
 
Yes, whoever said these cool finds make you feel like Christmas came early is exactly right! What a cool find for you and your family- congrats! And I guess John Winn?? Whoa. Love this forum.

Maps ARE amazing- another member here turned my husband and I on to a book with old maps of our area. My husband found markers on them which meant sawmills operated on our creek- quite a few- extremely close to the house. Just kinda cool, poking around figuring out where they were. Now we kind of feel like idjits never having noticed these things before.....
 
That is truly amazing! The type of find that brings back the incomparable joy of Christmas morning as a child :D

Yeah i was pretty excited when i found this map,

Now if I only had more maps of this detail and scale of the U.S. where other family members lived during the civil war.......
 
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