What is a Gazetteer?

Using historic maps as a resource in genealogy can be very valuable, however, sometimes you may discover that the town or village you are searching for is not on the map. Did you know you can also use gazetteers to help you locate places where your ancestors may have lived? If you’re unfamiliar with gazetteers, here’s a brief look at what they are and how they are useful to genealogists.

What is a gazetteer?

New England Gazetteer

A gazetteer is a geographical dictionary or directory of place names. When used in conjunction with maps and atlases, it can be a very powerful tool. Maps are a great resource to locate where your ancestors lived, however, sometimes the name of a small town or village may be omitted. This is why gazetteers are an excellent compliment to these old maps. Because a gazetteer is a dictionary of place names, you will find the names of all cities, towns and villages listed in alphabetical order. There are a variety of different types of gazetteers, which, along with the location and name of places, can provide interesting statistics about towns, villages and cities.

How are gazetteers helpful to genealogists?

• You can find the name of the providence, state, county, city, town or village that existed at the time the gazetteer was published. In some cases, you may also discover the former names of these places as well.
• Gazetteers will provide you with the boundaries of civil jurisdiction and the distances between cities.
• Longitude and latitude coordinates
• They provide the location and information on local parishes/churches, schools and civic offices.  This gives you insight on where you can further research and locate records. Documentation such as birth/death certificate, baptism records, and marriage/divorce records may be found in these locations.
• You may even find the location of state offices, which may hold the immigration records of your ancestors.
• They may also provide topographical information about the area your ancestor lived.

Have you used gazetteers in your own genealogical research? Don’t forget to add the records to your ancestor’s Geni profile and share it with others!