Mason and Dixon's Survey: Genealogical Implications of Changing Boundaries

Mason and Dixon's Survey: Genealogical Implications of Changing Boundaries

by Jacob Eubanks

Monday, April 12, 2021

    6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

   Online

Members ONLY

The program speaker, Jacob Eubanks, MLS, is Assistant Manager of History & Genealogy at St. Louis County Library, in St. Louis, MO.  He is an expert in westward U.S. migration and regularly lectures on using sources such as maps, deeds, military, probate, court, and church records to resolve challenging and complex genealogical queries.  He is also the Editorial Director of the Missouri State Genealogical Association and oversees production of MOSGA Journal and Newsletter.  Previously, he was the local History and Genealogy Librarian at the Johnson County Library in Overland Park, KS and is a former Reference Librarian at Indiana State University.

Modern maps do not accurately reflect where our ancestors lived many years ago.  Roads, bridges, counties, towns – all of these things have changed with the passage of time.  Perhaps the most famous administrative boundary changes in U.S. history is the Mason-Dixon survey line, which resolved territorial disputes between the colonies of Pennsylvania and Maryland.  While our familiarity as a society with Mason-Dixon has more to do with its use in the 19^th century as the figurative separation of north and south, its 18^th century establishment as an administrative boundary had equally significant implications for the frontier settlers along both sides of the line.  Understanding its history could prove key in locating the records of your colonial ancestors. Using a case of a Scotch-Irish family, participants will explore the genealogical; challenges presented by this state border with a complicated past.