Holder, IL 1920

Q: Does anyone know where Holder, IL is or was? I have not found it on a map but it is listed as residence of my great uncle and aunt. -- Trish

A: Looking for the localities where our ancestors lived, worked, and died, often leaves us empty handed. There are a number of different reasons that this might happen.

While we are conscious of the generations and centuries as we are researching, we sometimes forget about the changes that have taken place as this country grew and expanded. The names of towns have changed. The boundaries of counties and states have changed. All of this affects our ability to locate a place name in modern resources.

Changes to towns, counties and states affect our finding a place name.

Reaching for the Atlas

When we discover a new place name, it is human nature to want to determine where that place is located. The first book you are likely to grab is an atlas. Present day atlases are fine when working with present day localities. However, it is not unusual to discover the place names of our ancestors cannot be found in such modern day atlases.

There are actually many different atlases. Some of them are designed to display maps of primarily large metropolitan areas. For our research this often results in many place names of interest being omitted.

Many of our ancestors lived in small towns or villages. Some of the places recorded in the records we stumble upon may have been unincorporated towns that were actually attached to larger cities. What this means to our research is that we are stumped by the place name, as we cannot find it in the atlas.

Other times, we need to pay attention to the date of the atlas. If it is a fairly modern one, then this may be the explanation as to why the place name is not appearing. Many places have changed names, been incorporated into larger cities or simply become true ghost towns -- towns that no longer exist.

Gazetteers

Another option for genealogists is to turn to a gazetteer. Simply put, a gazetteer is like a place dictionary. Organized alphabetically by the town and landmark names, you can look up a variety of names in a gazetteer.

Unlike an atlas, gazetteers are designed to list information about the smallest of towns and hamlets. You will find gazetteers for just about every country. They will usually detail for you the location of the town or village. If it was close to a larger city, this information is also included. Sometimes it will go so far as to include the county or shire where the town is located.

An important aspect to using gazetteers is to pay attention to the publication date. Unlike atlases which are usually recently published, gazetteers can date back for a number of years. You may even find one close to the time period you are researching. This offers you the benefit of possibly finding a town or other locality listed under the name it had at the time your ancestors were living there.

A number of gazetteers can be found on microfilm and microfiche through the Family History Library. Some of them are part of the permanent fiche collection housed at local Family History Centers. Often these gazetteers were published in the late 1800s.

Online Avenues Like many of the other resources that we use, it is not surprising that there are online avenues to aid you with such research. Among them is the U.S. Geographic Survey's "Geographic Names Information System." This database of places is extensive. If the town or locality in question is still in existence, it is likely that you will find it listed in this database. The search engine is a simple one to use and the results appear quickly.

In Conclusion

A search in the U.S. Geographic Survey database revealed that Holder, Illinois is presently found in McLean County. You may need to turn to a plat map for the county of McLean to determine where in the county the town is located. Armed with this information you can look at the maps found in William Thorndale's and William Dollarhide's Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses, 1790-1920. This volume overlays the county boundaries as they appeared in a given census year with the county boundaries as they appear today. This allows you to see, based on its present day location, what county the town or village was in at the time you are researching your ancestors.

Rhonda R. McClure is a professional genealogist specializing in celebrity trees and computerized genealogy. She has been involved in online genealogy for fifteen years. She is an award-winning author of several genealogy how-to books, including The Complete Idiot's Guide to Online Genealogy, The Genealogist's Computer Companion, and Finding Your Famous and Infamous Ancestors. She may be contacted at rhondagen@thegenealogist.com.

See more advice from Rhonda in her columns Expert Tips, Tigs and Trees, and Overheard in the Message Boards.