Locating original landowners in maps has never been an easy task-until now. This volume in the Family Maps series contains newly created maps of original landowners (patent maps) in what is now Shelby County, Alabama, gleaned from the indexes of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. But it offers much more than that. For each township in the county, there are two additional maps accompanying the patent map: a road map and a map showing waterways, railroads, and both modern and many historical city-centers and cemeteries. Included are indexes to help you locate what you are looking for, whether you know a person's name, a last name, a place-name, or a cemetery. The combination of maps and indexes are designed to aid researchers of American history or genealogy to explore frontier neighborhoods, examine family migrations, locate hard-to-find cemeteries and towns, as well as locate land based on legal descriptions found in old documents or deeds. The patent-maps are essentially plat maps but instead of depicting owners for a particular year, these maps show original landowners, no matter when the transfer from the federal government was completed. Dates of patents typically begin near the time of statehood and run into the early 1900s. 406 pages with 116 total maps What's Mapped in this book (that you'll not likely find elsewhere) . . . 6308 Parcels of Land (with original landowner names and patent-dates labeled in the relevant map) 139 Cemeteries plus . . . Roads, and existing Rivers, Creeks, Streams, Railroads, and Small-towns (including some historical), etc. What YEARS are these maps for? Here are the counts for parcels of land mapped, by the decade in which the corresponding land patents were issued: DecadeParcel-count 1820s736 1830s1304 1840s203 1850s2669 1860s354 1870s12 1880s463 1890s372 1900s115 1910s66 1920s8 1930s1 1940s5 What Cities and Towns are in Shelby County, Alabama (and in this book)? Abbot Springs, Acton, Aden, Alabaster, Aldrich, Almont, Altadena Woods, Anita, Arkwright, Bamford, Booth Ford, Boothton, Brantleyville, Bridgeton, Brook Highland, Calcis, Calera, Calliston, Camp Branch, Camp Horne, Carleton Point, Chancellor Crossroads, Chelsea, Cherokee Beach, Chestnut Glen, Cloverdale, Coalmont, Columbiana, Country Hills, Creswell, Dargin, Deerhurst, Dogwood, Dogwood Point, Dry Valley, Dunavant, East Saginaw, Elliotsville, Elvira, Erratta, Falliston, Fourmile, Gallups Crossroads, Glen Carbon, Gurnee, Gurnee Junction, Hardy, Harpersville, Helena, Heritage Oaks, Hickory Ridge, Highlands, Hillsdale, Homestead, Hunters Glen (historical), Indian Shoals, Indian Springs Village, Inverness Cliffs, Ivanhoe, Joinertown, Kewahatchie, Keystone, Kingdom Crossroads, Klein, Lake Purdy, Langston Ford, Lawley, Lindseys Crossing, Longview, Maylene, Meadow Green, Meadow Ridge, Meadowbrook, Merrell Beach, Montalla Acres, Monte Bello, Montevallo, Moores Crossroads, Morning Sun Villas, Mossboro, Mostellers, Nelson, New Hope, Old Maylene, Ozan, Paramount, Pasqua, Pea Ridge, Pelham, Pine Grove Village, Riverwood, Roberta, Roebuck, Ryan, Saginaw, Sawmill Town, Scottrock, Shelby, Shelby Shores, Shelby Springs, Shoal Run, Siluria, Simmsville, South Calera, Southlake, Southpointe, Spring Creek, Springs Junction, Stems, Sterrett, Straven, Sunnymeadows, Superior, Tacoa, Tulse, Turner, Underwood, Valentine, Valley Junction, Vandiver, Varnons, Verlie, Vincent, Watkins, Weeping Oaks, Westover, Wildwood Shores, Willmay, Wilsonville, Wilton, Winburn, Woodford

この書は単なる地図集の枠を超え、シェルビー郡という大地に刻まれた無数の開拓者たちの魂の鼓動を伝える叙事詩です。グレゴリー・A・ボイドは、膨大な公文書の行間から「生きた歴史」を掘り起こしました。1820年代から続く土地の変遷は、アメリカという国家が形成される過酷な最前線で、名もなき人々が何を夢見て土を耕したのかを雄弁に語りかけてきます。 行間に潜むのは、家族たちが荒野に挑んだ未完の物語です。かつての集落や墓地が現代の道筋と重なり合うとき、読者は時空を超えて先祖たちの足跡に触れる奇跡を体験するでしょう。データの集積がこれほどまでに詩的で、読む者の想像力を激しく揺さぶるのは、失われた時間に光を当てようとする著者の執念と、土地への深い愛着があるからに他なりません。