I'm looking for an 1870 plat map with names of land owners. Is there one online? Names are George Marvin who lived at or near Marengo and any Altigs or Kings. Also I'd love to see photos of the Marengo area, new or old, or farms they may have owned.
Thanks, Sharon Sue Harris Marvin r2me2ss@yahoo.com

Sharon,

In 1872 Everts, Baskin, and Stewart published a plat map that includes landowners. The map is called Combination Atlas Map of McHenry County, Illinois and was reprinted in 1985 by the McHenry County Illinois Genealogical Society.

There is also a new publication called Family Maps of McHenry County, Illinois (Deluxe Edition) by Gregory A. Boyd that maps out the original landowners for the area which is quite nice. It's published by Arphax Publishing (http://www.arphax.com/).

The Algonquin Area Public Library owns both books. I checked the maps and was unable to find the surname Altig in either book, but I did find Kings listed in both the 1872 map and the Family Maps book. Couldn't find the name Marvin in 1872, but an Asahel Marvin was listed as a landowner in the`1840 for section 1. I will send copies to you via your email address so that you can examine them yourself. Looks like the Kings owned quite a bit of land.

The Illinois Archives does have plat maps available online, but they do not include the names of landowners. They are nonetheless a great source for information about railroads, rivers, roads, etc. The online plat maps for Illinois can be located here: http://landplats.ilsos.net/.

Good luck with your research!

Kristen Newton Smith, M.L.S.
Reference Librarian
Algonquin Area Public Library

I'm a long way from N.IL down in FL. The next time you have a chance to look into those plat books, I'd appreciate if you could look for Wrights and Rileys in the Marengo area. The first of those families arrived in the mid-1800's sometime. It would be interesting to see exactly where they were located, how much property they had and which of them owned property when. They must have been giving land away then as the Rileys, at least, had no money when they arrived from Ireland.

I'll make a note of your folks and see what I can find, so far the only plat map I've see is for Cass Co. Iowa though. Also I believe I saw an ad online for land 100 years ago and it was move on in with nothing down or some such deal.
I'll tell you tho, after reading up a bit on Menard County, IL it said it had the best growing ground "in the world". Sure made me want to go see Menard County.

;)) sshm

Ancestry has a platt map for Marengo township and Marengo city for the year 1872. Is that too late?

Have you looked for the land records online? sshm

George Marvin and family are on the 1870 Marengo census. He died in 1874 but I have no proof of where, he very well could have been in Marengo in 1872.
Thank you for your response. sshm