Historic Maps

1792 Sampson Stuart McNeill arrives from Belfast, Ireland, to the United States of America. Both he and his new nation were "born" in 1776. The map to the left is L'Enfant's plan for a new city by the Potomac, across the Pine River from Georgetown, the city where Sampson would soon marry Lavina Swain.

Sometime between the summer of 1817 and 1819, the family moved from Virginia to Chilo in Clermont County, Ohio. Some family members moved from the farm at Chilo, Ohio, to Bracken County, Kentucky, after Sampson Stuart McNeill's death in 1851.

According to the 1890 census, the families of both Oliver Goldsmith McNeill and William Montgomery McNeill resided then in Brooksville, Bracken County, Kentucky.

Here are some maps of the area from different time periods. Click on the map for a larger image:

1839 Martin Van Buren is President, and John Quincy Adams is a member of the House. Michigan became a state 2 years earlier. The first section of B&O Railroad track was laid in 1830. Oliver Goldsmith McNeill was 5 years old.

1863 This was the year the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. West Virginia became the 35th state. Oliver Goldsmith McNeill's son Jacob Rufus was born 2 years earlier, in Bracken County.

1891 James Naismith invents the game of basketball. Thomas Alva Edison applies for a patent on a moving-picture camera. William Montgomery McNeill's family would soon move to the Chicago area.

1895 Grover Cleveland is President. Charles Duryea receives a patent on an automobile. The first automobile race is run from Chicago to Evanston, Illinois. The winner travelled the 54 mile distance in 7 hours and 53 minutes.

Maps Internet Resources

With the exception of the 1895 map, all maps were obtained from the American Memory Collection from the Library of Congress.

Visit the links page for additional resources.