Week 6: Maps (1950 ED Maps)

Week 6: Maps

The Week 6 theme is "Maps." They say X marks the spot. I don't know if that's true, but I do know that maps are great resources for our research! Think about a time when a map helped you discover an ancestor. Another way you could approach the theme is think about an ancestor would could have really used a map. Feel free to be creative!

        When I first got into genealogy research, I never knew how invaluable maps would be for my research. But as I went along, I found myself looking up more and more maps to understand my family: where they lived, where they worked, where they moved, how did boundaries change, etc. By viewing maps, I learned more about my family than thought I would.
    While trying to decide what/who to write about for this prompt, a couple of options came up: 

• I wrote a blog post back in 2019 for the 52 Ancestors challenge called "Map It Out" where I talked about using Google Maps to pinpoint where all my family lived in comparison to each other. I could go into more detail about that experience.
• When researching my great-grand Uncle, William Ilg, and his death in World War I, I was able to view a map at the Research Library in Forest Park (St. Louis, Missouri) to pinpoint the location whereabouts he would have died. Then I used the NARA website to find the EXACT location. That was fascinating!
• When trying to find the marriage record for my grandma and her first husband, my Aunt Patty instructed me to check the local map of the area to see what churches were near where they lived, and then contact them to see if they have any record for the marriage of them. And it worked!
• My Uncle Marty shared a map with me a few years ago showing the old properties (Where they currently lived) and who owned them in the late 1800s. It helped put into perspective the stories they told about this family and that family and how this land came to be owned by this person, etc. 

What Should I write about?

    While all these ideas would be interesting to write about, the best choice to make right now would be to write about the Enumeration Maps that were used for the 1950 Census. These maps are an invaluable tool, especially right now since (at this time) the 1950 census is not available and when it does become available, it won't be indexed right away.
    When I first got into genealogy research in 2012, the 1940 census had just been released. That was my first taste of a census, but I didn't know ANYTHING about Enumeration District maps. I've studied quite a bit about them in the past year, and I'm still not even close to being an expert. I suggest checking out my blog post that lists many helpful resources regarding the 1950 census and Enumeration District Maps. Those sources are what I used to help me understand how to use the ED Maps so I'm prepared when the 1950 Census is released.

What are Enumeration District Maps?

"The area that each enumerator covered was called an Enumeration District. Enumeration districts varied in size from several city blocks to an entire county depending on the location. In each state, an enumeration district is given a unique number including two different numbers separated by a dash (i.e. 15-1). The first number is the assigned number for the county and the second number is for each district within the county." Source: NARA Blog - The Unwritten Record

    As I stated, when the 1950 Census is released, it will not be indexed right away. This is where these maps come into play. The Censuses are organized by State, County, City/Township, and Enumeration District (ED). So you have to know what ED your ancestor was living in to know where to find your ancestor in the Census. This also means you need to know WHERE your ancestor was living. 

Read this blog post to figure out where your ancestor was living in 1950

    Once you have the address for your ancestor, you head over to the SteveMorse.org website to find the ED Map. There are quite a few steps you have to go through to get to your correct map, but it is way more efficient than trying to page through each map to find which one you need, which is what you would need to do on the NARA site. So thank you to Steve Morse, Joel D. Weintraub, and David R. Kehs for creating such a useful tool for us.

How to find the ED Map:

1. Go to SteveMorse.org


2. On the left-hand side, hover over "US Census", then select "Unified 1880-1950 Census ED Finder" from the menu

3. Select the State, County and City/Town from the drop-down menus

4. Once you do that, an option should appear to add the house number and street name; add that info

5. Underneath that, Links to Enumeration Districts should show up; If there are many links, you can narrow it down by selecting cross streets that surround the block of where your ancestor lives; you can find this out by looking at Google Maps of the address




Google Maps


6. Once you are narrowed down to one ED, you can look up the map; DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINK AT THIS TIME


7. Open up a new tab and go to SteveMorse.org again


8. On the left-hand side, hover over "US Census", then this time select "1940 and 1950 ED Maps" from the menu

9. Make sure it says 1950 at the top of the page; then select the same info as before from the State, County, and City/Town from the drop-down menus; Click "Get ED Map Images"; a new window will open

10. If the correct ED is within the range listed, you have found the right maps; click on the NARA link to open up the maps in a new window

11. If there are many maps in the collection, scroll through to find the Map that matches your ED number



NARA Website



12. Once you do, zoom in to the correct ED on the Map to see where your ancestor would have lived; you might need to use Google Maps first to get a general idea of where they lived



1950 ED Map
Kirkwood, Missouri



Google Maps

    There you have it! Now you have the ED number to look up your ancestor in the 1950 census (when it comes out) and now you have a map of the area! I used this exact method to find the EDs for the ancestors I am going to look up for the 1950 Census. The case above is for my great-grandma, Nellie Fuchs. She lived on North Clay in Kirkwood, Missouri. I knew the address from City Directories and the location because my dad took me there one time. He remembered visiting her when he was little. He also remembered attending St. Peter's Church and School which was right across the street.
    It's so interesting to look at old maps and see how much a town has changed. It's also helpful to understand the area more and how it used to be. I used an Enumeration District recently for an interesting case I was studying for a friend. You can read about it here: Accident or Murder? The Death of William Shoults.

    Are you ready for the release of the 1950 Census? Have you checked out the Enumeration Maps or the SteveMorse website? What other maps have been helpful to you? Leave your comments below.