United States Gazetteers

A gazetteer is a list and description of places. It can be used to locate the places where your family lived. Gazetteers describe towns and villages, sizes of population, rivers and mountains, and other geographical features. They usually include only the names of places that existed at the time the gazetteer was published. The place names are generally listed in alphabetical order, similar to a dictionary.

Modern Place Names
Place Names in the Family History Library Catalog

Places are listed by their modern names and boundaries. The catalog includes only places for which the library has records.

Other Sources of Place Information For more comprehensive information, see:

Bullinger's Postal and Shippers Guide for the United States &amp; Canada, Annual. Westwood, New Jersey: Bullinger's Guides, 1871-. (FHL book 970 E8b; 1961 edition on film 483709.) It is available at most large libraries.

Other helpful books or records are listed in the Place Search of the Family History Library Catalog under:

UNITED STATES - NAMES, GEOGRAPHICAL

UNITED STATES - GAZETTEERS

Two national gazetteers are:

Abate, Frank R., editor. American Places Dictionary: A Guide to 45,000 Populated Places, Natural Features, and Other Places in the United States. Four Volumes. Detroit, Michigan: Omnigraphics, 1994. (FHL book 973 E5a.)

Abate, Frank R., editor. Omni Gazetteer of the United States of America: Providing Name, Location, and Identification for Nearly 1,500,000 Populated Places, Structures, Facilities, Locales, Historic Places, and Geographic Features in the Fifty States. . . 11 Volumes. Detroit, Michigan: Omnigraphics, 1991. (FHL book 973 E5o.)

Historical Place Names
Because names and boundaries of some places have changed or no longer exist, you may need to use sources that describe places as they were known earlier. An example of a national gazetteer that identifies places in the United States as of 1884 is:

de Colange, Leo. The National Gazetteer. London, England: Hamilton, Adams, and Company, 1884. (FHL book 973 E5c; film 845264; fiche 6046725.)

Some additional pre-1900 U.S. gazetteers are:


 * 1797, fiche 6010048-54
 * 1834, fiche 6010021-24
 * 1853, fiche 6046770
 * 1855, fiche 6010028-32

These sources are listed in the Place Search of the Family History Library Catalog under UNITED STATES - GAZETTEERS. Gazetteers and similar guides to place names for most states are listed in the Place Search under [STATE] - GAZETTEERS. For bibliographies of gazetteers see:

Grim, Ronald E. Historical Geography of the United States: A Guide to Information Sources. Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research, 1982. (FHL book 973 E33g.)

Sealock, Richard B., editor, et. al. Bibliography of Place- Name Literature, United States and Canada. Third Edition. Chicago, Illinois: American Library Assoc., 1982. (FHL book 970 E23s 1982.)

Useful Web Sites
US Board on Geographic Names (BGN)

www.bartleby.com/69/