Mapping Your Ancestor's War

[lupaglupa]

A genealogist posted this short tutorial on how to use Google amps to creat a map of where your ancestor was during the War. It's got some good advice in it and easy to follow directions -

 

[19thOhio]

Discerning and following the trail of the 19th Ohio (visiting their sites, but not necessarily in exact order) was one of the adventures of my research. Serving from Rich Mountain (W) Virginia to San Antonio Texas, I doubt that there are few regiments that have marched
(and railroads and boats) that far. Some of the interesting stories come from using a regimental history that uses letters, diaries and private journals that describe their adventures on the march. While Google will map the best route today, these journals can fill in the routes they actually marched that, perhaps today, are major US Routes or primary state routes.

 

[lupaglupa]

Especially water routes, which never show up on Google maps!

 

[Fairfield]

Maps are one of my favorite research tools: so much becomes clear and obvious--and a great way to look toward the Next Step.

 

[lupaglupa]

@Fairfield she has a video about mapping your ancestor's neighborhood which is really good.

 

[Library Lady]

For someone getting a degree in Geographic Information Systems and having a real interest in the Civil War, making a story map for their regiment of choice might be a good project. If they're working with ArcGIS by ESRI, they could enter their project in the firm's yearly story map competition. If you're into maps, there are some really cool entries there.