About the Book
320 pages with 86 total maps 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 Allegan County, Michigan, 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. What's Mapped in this book (that you'll not likely find elsewhere) . . . 4394 Parcels of Land (with original landowner names and patent-dates labeled in the relevant map) 40 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 1830s2726 1840s249 1850s1289 1860s88 1870s14 1880s13 1890s1 1900s4 1910s1 1920s4 1940s1 1960s1 1990s3 What Cities and Towns are in Allegan County, Michigan (and in this book)? Allegan, Bakersville, Beachmont, Bentheim, Boyd, Bradley, Bravo, Burnips, Castle Park, Cedar Bluff, Cheshire Center, Chicora, Corning, Diamond Springs, Dorr, Douglas, Dunningville, East Saugatuck, Fennville, Fillmore, Ganges, Gibson, Glenn, Glenn Haven Shores, Glenn Shores, Glenn Stores, Graafschap, Grange Corners, Hamilton, Hawkhead, Hilliards, Hollywood, Hooper, Hopkins, Hopkinsburg, Kibbie, Lee, Leisure, Macks Landing, Martin, Merson, Miami Park, Millgrove, Moline, Monterey Center, Mount Pleasant, Neeley, New Richmond, New Salem, Old Saugatuck, Old Squaw Skin Landing, Otsego, Overisel, Oxbow, Pearl, Pier Cove, Plainwell, Pullman, Saugatuck, Shelbyville, Sherman Park, Shorecrest, Shorewood, Singapore (historical), South Haven Highlands, South Monterey, Spring Grove, Watson, Wayland