Gotta Love the Old Maps

I have really enjoyed the searching of old maps. There is something exciting about seeing "your" name on a map from 150 years ago. It's one of those, " Oh, that's how I got here" moments. There is a good collection of maps on the Library of Congress Web site, http://memory.loc.gov/ . Included in their online collection is the J.C. Sidney Map of the City and County of Baltimore, Maryland, published in 1857. The Irish Matriarch was a teen at the time, but her future father in law, Thomas Burgan, owned a plot of land just northeast of the city limits. The 1860 census shows that her family lived in the same district of Baltimore County. I wonder how they met. Both the Burgan and Kenney family were farmers, so perhaps the neighbor's cute little Irish girl struck someone's fancy at a church dance, or at the local general store.

This land was eventually sold by Thomas to a group of investors that formed Baltimore's first private Black burial ground, known as Laurel Cemetery.