Chasing Counties:Use County Formation Maps

 

In 2010 I first learned of the magic of using  County Formation Maps. I was so excited then. I still have a special love affair with them now. After 2.5 years of working on the Thompson project, I have finally been able to make sense of the all our notes, thanks to tracing ONE Kentucky patent of 1461 acres across four states and 6 (or 7) counties in KY,  3 generations tied up in the same lawsuit in early Virginia to KY to Indiana; and for the heck of it, throw MO in where they finally settled, I now have the hints and a opened portal to continue my 1700 research. 

The best part of colonial research are the copious mounds of land patents, land deeds, lawsuits over lands, land inheritance, and family fights over land. This year alone, (and it's only July), we have unblocked, the Nichols, the Thompsons, and the Scotts using these early American litigious filled records. The key is to find them. So you must ask yourself: "Has every portal been opened, no matter how small or how far?" 

That's the same question I asked in 2010. The Thompson family is not closed, I still have no idea which Samuel is the correct one, and, the DNA of course wouldn't dare be a Thompson (it's Taylor and Mulligan); but I at least have a USA papertrail that matches the 1920 biographical sketch of who the Thompson man should be. 

The first step of preparing for your research is educating yourself on the region.  When was eachstate/county formed? From which counties or territories were new counties created? And, what was going on politically that may have affected records for your time period? 

County Formation Maps
Do you see it below? The original Thompson 1461 acre land patented in 1791 is the same land of Thompson (deceased) in 1821. Now the heirs were back in court. This court case did not settle until 1840s.  However, it's the county formations that I had to chase. The acres and players in the lawsuit was secondary. 

 

Keep in mind, just because a county changed, or a new one was created, doesn’t mean the records migrated. Some records were passed to the new county's repositories. Others stayed in the old county. Yes, you may have to check all of the counties formed from a starter county.

Chasing Your State and County Records 

Understand that we start with the present and go back with genealogy research. So sure, you can pinpoint your ancestor when they are enumerated in the county and have land in that county. But one of our questions is, but how did they pay for the land? Who paid for it? What does a land trace tell you about When the the land became into your family?  And, Where did the land lie when it was originally acquired in Which county?

You can see above, what the county looked like in 1798. But count the counties just 4 years earlier in 1794.  In 1780 and before the same land was actually in VA. I'm sure the client was exhausted as I weaved through the same 1461 acres across the states and several counties. But what a true way to bridge generations in this case.

Westward Expansion

Like counties, boundaries of states were transformed through history. Kansas gave some of its boundaries to Colorado. Missouri extended its already large state by acquiring the Platte Purchase in 1836; and Virginia split in 1863 creating West Virginia.

The Territories Too

And let’s not forget the western state of Idaho that was treated like an unwanted burden.  First it was part of the Oregon Territory; then divided between the Washington Territory and Oregon Territory.  Then when Oregon became a state, what would become Idaho was attached to Washington. With the discovery of gold, and a extreme political maneuvering, Idaho finally became its own territory in 1863.  Whew, and that was the short version.

The goal here is to verify the surrounding states and counties. So dont forget political reasons that may have influenced the moving of your records.

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