Legacy News

AniMap 3.0 Software Now Available

U.S. and Canadian researchers will be excited to hear about a major update to the AniMap software. We've written previously about the importance of AniMap in Why You Might Have A Brick Wall and I hope you are not doing U.S. research without this . . . .

New in Version 3

• The SiteFinder database has been expanded by more than 250,000 places including some new categories: Civil Divisions (Townships, for example), mines, parks, islands and more.
• Bigger maps. Maps can now be expanded to 1280x960 resolution which will fill most of the larger screens.
• Now works with Vista.
• The help files have been expanded and cover every aspect of using AniMap in non-technical language. In addition, a PDF file containing an instruction manual is also included which you can read before beginning to use AniMap.

How to upgrade

Current AniMap users can upgrade to version 3 by clicking here.

How to purchase

For more information, or to purchase AniMap, click here.

Video Preview

To see an overview of AniMap, click here.

Why you might have a brick wall

You might have a brick wall if your difficult research problem is similar to the following.

At a recent conference a student showed me her family group record of a family she had trouble with for many years. Her ancestor, John WILLIAMS, was born in:

Woodstock, Windham County, Connecticut in 1712.

Because I too, had ancestors from the area, I knew immediately what the problem was. I quickly opened the AniMap software, plotted Woodstock on the map of Connecticut, and changed the year to 1712. Immediately, we knew why the brick wall had existed for so long.

In 1712, Woodstock was in a completely different county AND a completely different state!

Her family group record should have recorded his birth as:

Woodstock, Suffolk County, Massachusetts

Knowing the correct jurisdiction for the time period is vital to successful research. AniMap is the only software for the U.S. and Canada in which you can plot the place and see the changing county boundaries throughout time.

Watch a video of AniMap's features

Click here to view a brief introductory video of AniMap.

Purchase AniMap

Click here for more information or to purchase.

Click to view Woodstock in 1712:

Click to view Woodstock today:

New - SiteFinder Online (and FREE)

Introducing SiteFinder Online, a free web-based version of The Gold Bug's SiteFinder U.S. place name database. SiteFinder Online lets you search for towns, cemeteries, schools, courthouses (and more) and plot them onto Google Maps where you can zoom in & out or overlay the SiteFinder locations onto satellite images of area you are studying. You can plot multiple items at once, or search for your exact point of interest. In addition to the more than 700,000 current locations, there are thousands of historical locations that no longer exist and won’t be found on current maps.

The database contains all the locations contained in the version included with the AniMap County Boundary Historical Atlas software. The search capabilities are a little more limited, but are sufficient for this application. You may access this free service at www.goldbug.com/map/sitefinder.html.

AniMap

AniMap contains over 2,300 historical maps that show the changing county boundaries for each of the 48 adjacent United States for every year since colonial times. Its use is essential for research in the U.S.

Watch a video overview of AniMap:

I hope you are not doing U.S. research without this . . .

When I first began my research, I looked in the records of Franklin County, Idaho for the birth of my great-grandfather, who was born in 1890 in a small area called Mink Creek. I wasn't very successful because at the time, Mink Creek was not located in Franklin County. In fact, Franklin did not even exist at the time.

Had I known about AniMap, I never would have looked in the wrong jurisdiction. AniMap allowed me to plot Mink Creek on the map, select the desired year, and it showed me what Idaho's county boundaries looked like in 1890. Mink Creek was definitely in Oneida County. However, changing to the modern map's boundaries, I understood the mistake I made. Today, Mink Creek is in Franklin County, but records of his birth would have been in the old county.

If you are doing research without understanding the right jurisdictions for the time period, your research may end with a brick wall.

AniMap also:

• measures the distances between two places
• performs radius searches
• provides lists of cemeteries or other places within a county or state
• creates migration maps
• displays overlays of rivers/streams, townships/ranges, railroads

Watch a FREE video preview of AniMap by clicking here.

New update available for AniMap 2.6 users

A new file is now available on the AniMap update page. A new version of COMAPS.EXE fix a couple of problems plus allowing space for future expansions of the information in the county database.

Visit the update page at http://www.goldbug.com/AniMapUpdate.html. The files on this page will only work with AniMap version 2.6 or higher (there isn't one higher yet).

Once you have downloaded the file, cut an paste it into the main AniMap folder. If you have done this correctly, Windows will give you a message asking if you want to replace the old COMAPS.EXE with the new one. Click on OK and you are done.

Those who do not have AniMap 2.6 can upgrade for $39.50 plus $3.00 shipping/Handling. To order, go to http://www.goldbug.com/store and click on the AniMap Upgrade link.

AniMap Video Preview

Millennia Corporation, developers of Legacy Family Tree, have created a video preview of AniMap. View the demonstration at http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/videos.asp

Also learn more about AniMap by clicking here.

New - AniMap video training on CD

Users of AniMap will benefit from a new training video CD entitled Plucking, Plotting, and Places: a Video Tutorial of AniMap. The tutorials teach the ins and outs of AniMap and include written step-by-step instructions.

Developed by Millennia's Geoff Rasmussen, the instruction helps overcome AniMap’s learning curve and teaches genealogy methodology at the same time.

AniMap has long been known to be the best resource for understanding the changing country boundaries in the U.S. and parts of Canada. Learning how to use it has been the researcher’s challenge. The video plays on the computer, so it’s easy to switch between it and AniMap to learn.

Key Video Features:

• Why AniMap?
• Learn how to select the maps for the year and state
• Learn to plot the town/city on the map and change the map to the right year
• Learn to measure the distance between two places
• Perform radius searches – locate towns/cities, churches, or cemeteries within a certain distance
• Create migration maps
• Add overlays of rivers/streams, townships/ranges, railroads
• Includes written step-by-step instructions that can be printed for easy reference

System Requirements:
Speakers, Windows 98 or higher, CD-ROM drive, Adobe Reader (free from adobe.com)

Order now!

For a video preview of AniMap, click here.