Had to choose between a 1750s map and a 1780s map of the same region at an estate sale

Last Saturday I came across two maps of the Ohio River Valley at an estate sale in Cincinnati. One was a 1754 map by John Mitchell showing the French forts, and the other was a 1784 map by Thomas Hutchins with the new state borders drawn in. I only had cash for one, so I picked the 1784 map because it had all the post-war boundary lines. Turns out the Hutchins map had a ghost town called "Gallipolis" that my great-grandpa's family supposedly settled in 1791. Now I'm going through old county records to see if the map matches up. Has anyone else found a family connection through an antique map like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

matthew70314d ago

That's a really cool find, especially with the family connection to Gallipolis. Makes you wonder what other stories are hiding in those old maps.

the_avery14d agoOG Member

My buddy @matthew703 once found an old plat map at a garage sale that led him to a forgotten cemetery in his backyard.