Each week Rhonda answers a question from the GenForum message boards and gives her expert answer here. We'd love to hear anything you have to add. Go ahead and leave your comments on GenForum with the original message.

November 16, 2000
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Q: Is there an easy way to look up county names when I receive information from someone? I have a lot of research from a cousin, but it just lists the towns, there are no county names. -- Natalie

A: One of the things I find most frustrating is to receive research from someone else and discover that they have not listed full places. It is then left up to me to determine just where in a state or county a given locality is. After all, many of the very records we will come to need are found on the county or shire level.

U.S. Researchers

For researchers in the United States, there is a very helpful new book that was recently published by Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. American Place Names of Long Ago by Gilbert S. Bahn. This book is actually a republication of George Cram's Unrivaled Atlas of the World which is reported to include over 100,000 place names of "every county, city, town, village and post-office in the United States...in the 1890 Census."

This is an interesting and useful resource, especially since we no longer have the 1890 census to look through. For $38.50 postpaid you can order this book through:

Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc.
1000 North Calvert St.
Baltimore, MD 21202

You can also visit their web site and search for other books.

Published Gazetteers

Of course, one of the biggest problems in locating some of these towns is that names of towns and cities have changed over the years. To help with situations such as this, it is a good idea to look for some older gazetteers. Many are now being released on CD or at various web sites such as Familytreemaker.com or reprinted through book companies such as Heritage Books.

Another great source for worldwide gazetteers from the 1800s is your local Family History Center. As part of their holdings, they have a number of gazetteers on microfiche. You will want to ask the volunteers about their Reference Selection fiche. There are about 200 titles in this group, though not all of them are gazetteers. One word of caution, these gazetteers are published in the primary language of the country they are describing.

The closer you can get to the time period you are researching using a gazetteer, the more likely you will be able to locate the town in question.

Online Gazetteers

There are many places you can go to search online gazetteers. Here is a partial list to get you started.

• Genealogy.com's Helpful Web Sites has a section devoted to "Places/Geographic."
• Cyndi's List, Maps and Gazetteers - National Geographic Information - offers links to worldwide maps and gazetteers.
• USGS National Mapping Information - offers a searchable database for the US, as well as information on foreign records.

In Conclusion

You have experienced the frustration that so many of us have when receiving someone else's research. When sharing your information please remember how you felt, and be sure to send complete place names.

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