The Three County Geographical Genealogy (GeoGen) Mapping Project.

As previously mentioned, in the Documentary Heritage Community Program competition for 2020-21 GANS was successful in being awarded $24,964 for the Three County Geographical Genealogy (GeoGen) Mapping Project.

The following information was kindly supplied by Paul Armstrong, Project Manager.

"This is a joint venture among several Nova Scotia Heritage organizations formed last fall with an interest in preserving and digitizing a set of very interesting historical maps created in the late nineteenth century. The maps got their name from the cartographer, Ambrose Finson Church, who led and organized the work. They are referred to as the A.F. Church maps.
Preserving these maps is an important first step, but their importance is related to the uniquely valuable genealogical information on them. As part of his topographical mapping, Mr. Church identified the location of households on the map, and wrote in the first initial and last name of the owner or head of household beside the dot. With appropriate research, the surnames can be used as a means to create links to household-level census information and other genealogical and historical data.
At the end of November, these Heritage organizations issued a Public Announcement calling for donations of the original lithograph prints, and a considerable number of donations were received. The members of this joint venture, which happen to be located in three different counties, have moved forward with a project to physically conserve and digitize a partial set of these maps. Library & Archives Canada has generously agreed to help with the financial costs of this work.
The work ultimately leads to a connection between geographical and genealogical data. We are referring to it as the GeoGen Project."

Find further information at https://www.mircs.ca/geogen/