Genealoger

Maps and
Other Geographical Tools

The Wisconsin Historical Society has microfilm copies of Wisconsin county plat books (ca. 1870-1900), which are accessible through interlibrary loan. Early and later county plat maps are not microfilmed but some can be photocopied on request. State atlases were published for Wisconsin in 1876, 1878, and 1881, and include county maps. They show post offices, schools, churches, and road systems, all valuable information in locating an ancestral family in Wisconsin.

Geraldine Strey's Land Ownership Maps of Wisconsin, 1836-1960. Madison, Wisconsin, n.d. is very important in determining precisely what maps are available at the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Aerial photographs of Wisconsin are in the collection of the Arthur Robinson Map Library, Science Hall, University of Wisconsin, Madison. The first topographical map of Wisconsin, of the Stoughton quadrangle, is dated 1889. Bird's-eye view maps are significant in Wisconsin research, inasmuch as they cover the period from 1867 to the end of World War I. There are over 200 of these maps for Wisconsin towns and villages. Most are listed in Elizabeth Maule, Bird's Eye View of Wisconsin Communities, Madison, Wisconsin, 1977, and are also available at the Wisconsin Historical Society. The maps were drawn with great attention to the buildings existing at the time.

The Golda Meir Library at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, holds the map collection of the American Geographical and Statistical Society. The worldwide collection includes thousands of bound books, maps, gazetteers, and photographs. It is one of the largest collections of maps for the entire United States. A unique cataloging program at this repository references maps that appear in books. The collection has maps of Milwaukee for 1849, 1857, 1869, 1875, 1886, 1890, 1892, and 1898. Queries by mail or phone are answered, most material can be photocopied, and some holdings may be borrowed through interlibrary loan. The library is located at 2311 E. Hartford Ave., Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The mailing address is the American Geographical Society Collection, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee Library, P.O. Box 399, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201.

The earliest Sanborn map for Wisconsin in the historical society holdings is for 1883. An earlier one exists for LaCrosse in 1879.

Various online maps and geographic resources include:

• American Memory Panoramic Maps 1847-1929 - Wisconsin  - From the Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress.
   
• American Memory Railroad Maps 1828-1900 - Wisconsin  - From the Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress.
   
• Color Landform Atlas: Wisconsin  - Including a map of counties and a map for 1895.
   
• Digital Sanborn Maps - Wisconsin  - Information on the towns covered, number of maps for each town & years covered.
   
• Find a City or Town in Wisconsin
   
• Geographic Names Information System (GNIS)  - Contains information for almost 2 million physical and cultural geographic features in the United States and its territories. The Federally recognized name of each feature described in the data base is identified, and references are made to a feature's location by State, county, and geographic coordinates. The GNIS is the official U.S. repository of domestic geographic names information.
   
• Geology of Wisconsin  Survey of 1873-83
   
• Guide to the Ghost Towns of Wisconsin 
   
• Harvard Map Collection
   
• Historical Maps of the United States - The Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection
   
• The Home and School Reference Work, A Library of Practical, Authoritive Information Drawn From Every Department of Human Knowledge, Volume IX, Perpetual Encyclopedia Corporation, Chicago, 1915 and 1923, page 3976, contributed by Bob Franks.
   
• K.B. Slocum Books and Maps - Wisconsin 
   
• KinQuest Wisconsin County Maps, 1901
   
• Land Ownership Maps in the Library of Congress
   
• Lead Mines on the Mississippi, circa 1829
   
• Leading Products Industries, circa 1943
   
• Maps at the University of Virginia
   
• Map of Wisconsin Counties 
   
• MapQuest: World Atlas: Wisconsin 
   
• Michigan Territory in 1830 -Includes Wisconsin
   
• Michigan and Wisconsin, circa 1891
   
• Midwest Map, circa 1884
   
• Milwaukee Neighborhoods: Photos and Maps, 1885-1992  [From the collections at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee Libraries]
   
• National Encyclopedia Wisconsin Map, circa 1944
   
• Natural Regions of Wisconsin, circa 1943
   
• A New and Complete Gazetteer of the United States By Thomas Baldwin and J. Thomas, M.D. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co. 1854 pp.1302-1307. Contributed by Kathy Lenerz.
   
• 1922 Map of Wisconsin
   
• Organization of Territories in the United States since 1803 - The Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection
   
• Public Land Survey System (PLSS) Township Index Maps
   
• Pam Rietsch's 1895 U.S. Atlas
   
• Rand McNally Popular Map of Wisconsin, circa 1944
   
• Rare Map Collection at the Hargrett Library, University of Georgia
   
• RootsWeb Town Search - TownCo  - Enter the name of a U.S. town to learn the name of the county where that town is located.
   
• Sanborn Maps
   
• U.S. Atlas - Wisconsin - 1895  - Scanned images of county and state maps, index of towns.
   
• U.S. Census Bureau - State and County QuickFacts - Wisconsin County Selection Map 
   
• U.S. Census Bureau U.S. Gazetteer
   
• U.S. Digital Map Library - Wisconsin
   
• USGenWeb Archives, United States Digital Map Library 
   
• Wisconsin Digital Map Library 
   
• Wisconsin 1895  From: Color Landform Atlas of the United States
   
• Wisconsin Gazetteer  Containing the names, location and advantages of the counties, cities, towns, villages, post offices, and settlements, together with a description of the lakes, water courses, prairies, and public localities, in the state of Wisconsin.  From: Making of America.
   
• Wisconsin Maps.  From: Perry-Castañeda Library.
   
• Wisconsin Maps  U.S. Map Collection, 1513-1990. Ancestry.com.
   
• Wisconsin Postal History 
   
• U.S. Territorial Maps 1775-1920
   
• USGS/GNIS Database of Wisconsin locations
   
• Wisconsin County Boundaries, 1990 U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of the Census
   
• Wisconsin County Maps, 1901 
   
• Wisconsin Department of Transportation. Provides printable county maps showing township and range numbers essential in studying ancestors in federal land states.
   
• Wisconsin Digital Maps Project
   
• Wisconsin from Color Landform Atlas of the United States
   
• Wisconsin Gazetteer, containing the names, location and advantages of the counties, cities, towns, villages, post offices, and settlements, together with a description of the lakes, water courses, prairies, and public localities, in the state of Wisconsin, alphabetically arranged by John Warren Hunt. 1853.
   
• Wisconsin Gazeteer On-Line - 1853  - From the University of Michigan. Scanned images of the original book.
   
• Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota Territories 1832-1858
   
• Wisconsin Maps - Exploring Wisconsin our Home
   
• Wisconsin Maps - John Hopkins University
   
• Wisconsin Maps - The Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection
   
• Wisconsin Panoramic Maps, 1847-1929, at the Library of Congress
   
• Wisconsin Profiles: Interactive county maps
   
• Wisconsin Railroad Maps at the Library of Congress
   
• Wisconsin State Cartographer's Office 
  • Wisconsin Outline Maps 
  • Maps 
    • Historical Maps 
    • Parcel Maps 
    • Plat Books 
       
• Wisconsin Transportion & Communication Maps at the Library of Congress
   
• Yale Peabody Museum: GNIS - Wisconsin  - Search the USGS Geographic Names Database. You can limit the search to a specific county in this state and search for many features.

Various print resources include:

• Atlases of Historical County Boundaries. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1997.
   
• Collins, Charles W. An Atlas of Wisconsin. 2nd edition. Madison, Wisconsin: American Printing and Publishing, 1972. A geological and statistical atlas including land formations, population maps, manufacturing and agricultural information.
  
  
• County Maps of Wisconsin. Madison, Wisconsin: The Commission, 1935.
   
• DeLorme Mapping Company. Wisconsin Atlas & Gazetteer. Freeport, Me: DeLorme Mapping Co., 1988.
   
• DeBoer, Gordon. Wisconsin, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1997.
   
• Fox, Michael.  Maps and Atlases Showing Land Ownership in Wisconsin. Madison, Wis.: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1978. Lists maps available at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin .
   
• Gard, Robert E. and L.G. Sorden, The Romance of Wisconsin Place Names, 1968. Reprint, Minocqua, Wisconsin: Heartland Press, 1988.  Has an alphabetical list of towns and cities, the county in which they are located, and a brief history.
   
• Hale, James B., comp. Wisconsin Post Office Handbook, 1921-1971. Wisconsin Postal History Society. Bulletin no. 10. Madison: Wisconsin Postal History Society, 1971.
   
• Herrick Linda M. & Uncapher, Wendy K. Cemetery Locations in Wisconsin. Janesville, Wisconsin: Origins, 1998.
   
• Historical Atlas of Wisconsin: embracing complete state and county maps, city & village plats, together with separate state and county histories ... Milwaukee: Snyder, Van Vechten & Co., 1878. Detailed state, county, township and city maps. Includes a business directory, postal and railway guide and illustrations of some businesses.
   
• Hunt, John Warren. Wisconsin Gazetteer Containing Names, Locations and Advantages of the Counties, Cities, Towns, Villages, Post Offices and Settlements on the State of Wisconsin. Madison, Wisconsin: Beriah Brown, 1853. Reprint. Microfiche. Louisville, Kentucky: Lost Cause Press, 1974. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University Microfilm.  Identifies the older place names that often are no longer used in Wisconsin. Gives land formations, types and county location using town and range lines.
   
• Illustrated Historical Atlas of Wisconsin Containing Maps of Every County in the State with Many Villages and City Plats. Chicago, Illinois: H.P. Page, 1881. Shows roads, townships, buildings and other pertinent land markings. Includes some illustrations of larger businesses and some portraits of prominent leaders and businessmen.
   
• Long, John H., editor. Atlas of Historical County Boundaries, Wisconsin. New York: Simon & Schuster Macmillan, 1997. Demonstrates the depiction, both textual and cartographic, of county boundary changes and the relationships between the two sections. Consolidated chronology and individual county chronologies.
   
• Long, John H., editor. Historical Atlas and Chronology of County Boundaries, 1788–1980. Scale: 1:633,600. Vols. 1–5. Boston, Mass.: G.K. Hall, 1984. Maps show when and where each county changed boundaries. Maps for Wisconsin are in volume 3.
   
• Maule Elizabeth. Bird's Eye View of Wisconsin Communities, Madison, Wisconsin, 1977.
   
• Moertl, Frank.  Wisconsin, Its Territorial and Statehood Post Offices. Hartland, Wisconsin: Wisconsin Postal History Society, 1995.
   
• Peck, George W., ed. Wisconsin: Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions and Persona Arranged in Cyclopedic Form. Madison, Wisconsin: Western Historical Association, 1906. An encyclopedia of persons, places and things of Wisconsin with a short notation explaining each item.
   
• Robinson, Arthur, and Jerry B. Culver. Atlas of Wisconsin: General Maps and Gazetteers. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1974. This atlas includes an excellent gazetteer. Index denotes whether a place name is a town, village, rural locality, urban locality, city, stream, water body, park or land form.
  
  
• Sanborn Map Company. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, Wisconsin. Pelham, New York: Sanborn Map Company, 1884?-1951?
   
• Snyder, Van Vechten & Co. Historical Atlas of Wisconsin: Embrac ing Complete State and County Maps, City & Village Plats and With State and County Histories: Also Special Articles on the Geology, Education, Agriculture, and Other Important Interests of the State. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Snyder, Van Vechten & Co., 1878.
  
  
• Snyder, Van Vechten & Co. Historical Atlas of Wisconsin.  Janesville, Wis.: Origins, 1995. This is a reprint of the 1878 publication and contains useful maps for each county.
   
• Strey, Geraldine. Land Ownership Maps of Wisconsin, 1836-1960. Madison, Wisconsin, n.d.
   
• Uncapher, Wendy Z. & Herrick, Linda Z., compilers. Wisconsin, Its Counties, Townships & Villages. Janesville, Wisconsin: Origins, 1994.
   
• Walling, H. F. Atlas of the State of Wisconsin. Detroit: Walling, Tackabury and Co., 1876.
   
• Walling Henry Francis. Atlas of the State of Wisconsin Including Statistics and Descriptions of its History, Educational Institutions, Geology and Railroads.  Boston, Massachusetts: Walling, Tackabury, 1876. Includes maps and short sketches of the items in the title.
   
• Ward Maps of United States Cities. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1975?
  
  
• Wisconsin Atlas & Gazetteer. Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme Mapping Co., 2000.
  
  
• Wisconsin Gazetteer. Wilmington, Delaware: American Historical Publications, 1991.
   
• Wisconsin Geographic Names. 2 volumes. Reston, Virginia: U.S. Geological Survey, 1981. Prepared from a computer file of geographical names.
   
• Wisconsin's Past and Present: A Historical Atlas / The Wisconsin Cartographers' Guide. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 1998. Historical and geographical data with full color maps and descriptive text, photos and illustrations.