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William Dollarhide's book "Map Guide To The U.S. Federal Census is one of the most popular genealogy books ever written. Selling for $49.95 (regular price), this book shows the county boundary changes for every state, every ten years (the census years) from 1790 - 1920.

Click to order Map Guide To The U.S. Federal Census at our Special Price of $45.00

However,

If you want a product that offers a great deal more,

let us recommend

"AniMap"

AniMap is a CD program that allows the user to go way beyond what the book can do. The upgraded version 2.6 displays over 2,300 maps showing the changing county boundaries for each of the 48 adjacent U.S. states for every year since colonial times. While the book shows the changes for each census year, AniMap shows the changes for all years. You can view each map separately, or set them in motion so you can automatically view the boundary changes. AniMap also includes maps of the full U.S. showing all the changes in state and territorial boundaries from 1776 to the present. Each map includes a listing of the changes from the previous map making it simple to keep track of parent counties. There are four speed adjustments in the "run" mode as well as being able to advance by single frames.

A unique "place marker" feature allows you to place up to 50 markers of varying designs and colors on a map, then change the year to observe the placement (the maps remain in the same position and scale on the screen). This is very convenient for marking the location of towns that were shifted from one county to another. You can now save sets of markers for future reference and a new feature which will let you add labels to your markers.

Included on the AniMap is a sitefinder database. SiteFinder contains listings for more than 799,000 places in the United States plus more than 120,000 variant names. Each listing gives the name of the place, the county where it is (or was) located, and includes latitude-longitude coordinates for 97% of them. With a few mouse clicks, you can pluck items from siteFinder and plot them on the maps in AniMap Plus ... complete with labels.

Included in the listings are: Cities & towns, Railroad Stations, Trading Posts, Farms & Ranches, Plantations, Ruins,Country Schools, Mining Camps, Ghost Towns ...and more, including the SiteFinder Cemetery database. This database lists locations for more than 100,000 cemeteries throughout the U.S. Many of the locations are places that are no longer in existence or those that have had name changes. While it does not list every place that ever existed, we believe you will find it to be the best source available.

The SiteFinder browsing software will search for names (partial or complete), do wild card searches if you are unsure about the spelling or have unreadable letters in the name. You can also get a complete list of sites in any given county. A new feature lets you retrieve a list of locations within a specified number of miles (between 1 and 99) from your chosen location. You can pluck items from the SiteFinder databases and plot them directly on the map with just a few clicks of your mouse. The location will appear on your map and remain in place when you switch the map to different years. A screen display shows you the latitude and longitude coordinates and allows you to measure the mileage between any two points on the map.

Another great feature is the ability to print all maps directly from the program both in black-and-white or color. You can also use a paintbrush program to enhance the maps with additional text and color.

While AniMap sells elsewhere for around $80 dollars. The Genealogy Shelf is running a special on AniMap for $65.00, which includes FREE SHIPPING. The book is good, but at this price, the AniMap is much, much better.

Click to order AniMap at our Special Price of $65.00

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS.....
IBM PC compatible with Windows 95 or higher. VGA or SVGA display. Double speed or faster CD ROM drive, 16mb Memory minimum. Mouse required. Uses less than 1mb hard disk space if data files are accessed from the CD. Installation options allow you to put maps and database files on your hard drive for convenience and faster access.