Update: Historical Counties and Drawing Tools

Screenshot showing both historical county labels and civil township labels

First, the popular Historical U.S. Counties Auto-Checker chrome extension has been updated to work with the latest version of Ancestry’s website. Also, now when you use the Historical U.S. Counties map tool, you can explore the historical counties for any historical date in the context of civil townships. As you likely know, civil townships are often used in a lot of historical records from census to land ownership and more. Now, when you turn on labels for historical counties by checking the “Show historical county labels” box in the lower left corner of the map, if you also check the … Read more

New powerful ways to select features on the map tools!

Radius drawing tools example

Now you can use the Selection Tools button to select map features on any map tool! You can select the map features using any points, lines or shapes that you draw, or select map features by specifying a radius around any shape you draw. The map features that get selected depend on which tool you are using: counties, city limits, civil townships, ZIP Codes, Section Township Range, historical U.S. counties, time zones, area codes or the custom map tools. Here’s how it works: Using the County Lines map tool as an example, click the Selection Tools button on the left … Read more

Quick Links: Individual County Maps with Townships

county map with townships

In case you want to see a map of civil townships for just one county at a time, here is a list of ALL U.S. Counties showing townships: Listing of all U.S. County Maps showing Civil Townships and Township Boundaries This will give you maps that look like this, using Champaign County, Illinois as an example: If you want to view ALL civil townships on one map, just use the Civil Townships map tool. There are also options to overlay civil townships on many other map tools, including in the lower left of the Historical U.S. Counties tool: If you’re … Read more

New tool shows Civil Townships on Google Maps

Check out the new Civil Townships tool to see township boundaries on Google Maps, with an option to also see township name labels on the map. Civil townships are active levels of government in about 20 states.  They are typically referred to as “towns” in New England, New York and Wisconsin, and are “charter townships” in Michigan.  There are an additional several states beyond the 20 that have “inactive” townships, meaning they have recognizable names that the locals may refer to, but that do not serve a governmental purpose.  Long story short, all of these flavors of townships are shown … Read more

Quick Links: New Reference Maps section on randymajors.org

Reference Maps Section of randymajors.org

Sometimes, you just need a quick reference map image rather than a fancy interactive map tool. Well, for those times, you can now visit the new Reference Maps section of the randymajors.org Research Hub website. On the Reference Map menu, found at the top of every page, you’ll find links to the following state-based map images: County Maps of each U.S. State City Limits Maps of each U.S. State Civil Township Maps by State ZIP Code Maps of each U.S. State Section Township Range Maps by State Using the Civil Township Maps by State as an example, click the image of … Read more

New map tool shows Coronavirus Shelter-in-Place & Stay-at-Home Orders on Google Maps

In an effort to try to provide useful information during this trying time, I’ve been working to maintain an up-to-date interactive map showing all Coronavirus Shelter-in-Place & Stay-at-Home Orders on Google Maps in the US. The map overlays all U.S. jurisdictions with Shelter-in-Place* or Stay-at-Home* Orders currently in effect or imminent due to the Covid-19 Coronavirus. Below is a screenshot of the tool, but I encourage you to go to the live map to ensure you’re seeing the latest updates. As with all map tools on this website, you can zoom in and see the relevant county lines, city limits, townships … Read more

New feature: DRAW ANY SHAPE on the map to reveal all of the Counties, ZIP Codes, Cities, Townships and more

With all of the Map tools on the randymajors.org Research Hub, you’ve always been able to click on the map to know what ZIP Code, city, county or Section Township and Range that you clicked on. Now with this latest version of the map tools, you can DRAW ANY SHAPE and identify what’s there! Here are the simple steps: Click the “Selection Tools” button on the left side of the map Select the shape you want to draw (line, custom polygon or rectangle) in the upper left corner Draw any shape on the map and double-click the map when you’re … Read more

Create a link to a map of any Section, Township and Range, including your CURRENT location

Maps of individual Townships in the Section Township Range PLSS

If you have a website that makes use of legal land descriptions, now you can quickly create a link to a map centered on any Section, Township and Range.  Or if you are traveling looking at large land parcels, you can see what Township, Range and Section you are currently* in. This is an advanced capability of the Section Township Range on Google Maps tool. To zoom into a particular Section, Township and Range, create a link such as this: https://www.randymajors.org/township-range-on-google-maps?state=CO&sec=15&t=4&td=N&r=69&rd=W Clicking this link takes you to this map: TIP: copy/paste the link above and customize to suit your needs … Read more

Which U.S. states have which levels of local government…and why should I care?

This topic is more complicated than it sounds, so I’ll attempt to keep it high level. Whether you’re doing present-day or historical research about a place, it’s important to know which levels of local government exist in the state you are researching (e.g. counties, cities, townships).  Why should you care? It may determine which place houses the records you’re looking for The exact location often determines which local taxes are levied and which local laws are applicable  It determines who has jurisdiction for a given location (e.g. police, sheriff, etc.) In addition to providing some definitions, I’ll also point you … Read more

So…what is randymajors.org Research Hub anyway?

randymajors.com Research Hub homepage

“So what is your website all about?”  I increasingly get asked some form of this question about randymajors.org Research Hub. A BRIEF BACKSTORY:  Back in 2006-2010, the randymajors.org website was a fairly small collection of blog posts about family history plus some of my photography.  Then, in 2011 I launched the AncestorSearch on Google Search and Historical U.S. Counties on Google Maps tools primarily aimed at genealogy and historical research. FAST FORWARD TO 2018:  I decided to broaden the appeal of the mapping and search tools to a more general audience by launching the present-day County Lines on Google Maps tool.  I continued to … Read more

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