Remember Fold-Out Paper Maps?

In the "good ol' days," before smartphone digital apps directed us along precise routes to our destinations, we had digital maps we could view using MapQuest or Google Maps or some such web-based system (using our laptops or desktop computers).  Some of us remember the even further-back "gooder ol' days" (apologies for being ungrammatical for the sake of a laugh) when people used paper maps.  You know, the kind that you'd unfold, stare at blankly, then struggle to refold correctly.

"You Are Here .."  Where's That, Now?

Perhaps paper maps have gone the way of the dinosaurs, but they can be valuable historical documents, as they're a snapshot-in-time of the way a place used to look (at least on a map).  There are old streets that may no longer exist or have been renamed.  Routes may have changed, or new highways constructed.  Advertisers place the map in time, too.

The Mooresville Chamber of Commerce produced a paper map that they distributed (ca. 2005) that shows Mooresville, Indiana as it looked then.  There are a few copies floating around, but we've digitized one so you can see it online.  Click the image below.

The reverse side of the paper map shows Morgan County, Indiana.

 

If you have a paper copy of this map, tuck it away safely for your great-great-grandchildren to look at a century from now.  Mooresville will undoubtedly look quite different.  It certainly has changed significantly since a century ago.

 

October is National Family History Month

October is National Family History Month.  To celebrate, we've placed a display next to the library's entrance (next to the Friends of the Library sale room).

Click Photos to Enlarge

Place a push pin on the map to indicate from where your ancestors emigrated to America (or to wherever they immigrated).

Burial Map to Mooresville's Old M.E. Cemetery

Thanks to Mooresville sexton Ed Bucker, the Indiana Room at Mooresville (Indiana) Public Library has a burial map for the Old Methodist Episcopal (M.E.) Cemetery on West Washington Street. A spreadsheet accompanying the map lists burial plots of many of the town's earliest pioneers and settlers.  (Click the photos below to enlarge.)

Old Methodist Episcopal (M.E.) Cemetery,

also known as Old Mooresville Cemetery,

on West Washington Street 

Old M.E. Cemetery was established in 1829

Painting of the first Mooresville M.E. Church (built in 1839)

(on West Washington Street, in front of the cemetery)

Photograph of the first Mooresville M.E. Church

(from Hadley, Almira Harvey.  A Brief History of Mooresville and Vicinity [1918])

(Click here to see a digital copy of the entire book)

The photos below show where to find the cemetery burial map.  To the left of the map (in a yellow binder) is the spreadsheet listing the names of those buried there, as noted on the map.

Although these materials do not circulate, they may be examined in the library's Indiana Room.

There are several online resources available to search burial records of the Old M.E. Cemetery.  These include:

• The Morgan County History & Genealogy Association website; and
• The Find-a-Grave website.

The MCH&GA website also lists other Morgan County cemetery burial records, among other historical and genealogical information.

Besides the Bucker burial map mentioned above, the MPL Indiana Room has several print materials that list burials in Old M.E. Cemetery.  These include:

• Cemetery records compiled by the Mooresville, Indiana White Lick Chapter of the D.A.R. (Mrs. Olin D. Keith and Mr. and Mrs. Carl C. Cowen, compilers) (click here for a library catalog entry--library call number I REF 929.5 DAR).  Other Morgan County cemetery records may be found in these reference books and related materials, all under the library call number I REF 929.5;
• Local History vertical files (under specific cemetery names).  These files are kept in locked drawers in the MPL Indiana Room.  Please ask library staff for assistance.

A digitized library handout provides these details about the Old M.E. Cemetery:

• "Samuel and Eliza Moore donated the land on West Washington Street for use as a cemetery, now known as 'Old Cemetery,' and to serve as the site of the first M.E. Church (built in 1839). Martha J. Worthington, Eliza Moore’s first cousin, became the first person buried in Old Cemetery in Mooresville. She died at age 21 on May 15, 1829."

The source for the above-quoted paragraph was page 76 of A Brief History of Mooresville, Indiana, 1824-1974, by Clara S. Richardson (1974).  Read a digitized copy of the entire book here.  The relevant page is reprinted below (click image to enlarge).

Page 76 of Clara Richardson's book

Besides these materials, there are some other online discussions about the Old M.E. Cemetery, both from this blog (click here and here and here) and the library's digitized handouts (click here).

Visit the MPL Indiana Room for more local history resources, or click here to find a quick summary of online links available.  The MPL website also has a variety of web pages devoted to local history.

A Really BIG Morgan County Map

Want to see a REALLY big map of Morgan County, Indiana?  It's on display at the library until Monday, August 22, 2016. Click the photos below to enlarge.

2016 Morgan County Map for the Indiana Bicentennial Celebration

(on display in the MPL grand hall, between the

Giving Tree & the MPL Directors' Gallery)

Find Where You Live on the Map!

Close-up of Brown Township in Morgan County

Letter Explaining Map's Objectives

2016 Indiana Literary Map

Looking for Indiana authors to read? The Indiana Center for the Book has created a Literary Map of 200 Hoosier writers for the state’s bicentennial. It’s a great resource for book clubs or teachers.

Click (Above) to See Map