Names on the old maps
Who was in town in 1860?
331 names from the business directories printed beside the old town plans, with the men of Company D, in one roll you can search.
Project Scroll · · 1 min read
The St. Joseph River valley. Beside each town plan on the old county maps, the mapmakers printed a business directory: the lawyers, doctors, merchants, smiths, hotel keepers and county officers who paid to be listed.
Now 331 of those entries, from Cassopolis, Dowagiac, Niles and Paw Paw in 1860 and Goshen in 1861, are in one roll you can search by surname, trade or town, together with the 85 men of Company D.
A directory is not a census. It lists the people who paid to appear, so most farmers, labourers, women and children are not in it. But a directory line puts a person in a town, in a trade, in a year, and that is often the first step to finding a family.
Every entry links to its map, so you can find the name in the engraving yourself.
Corrections: none
First published 22 October 2026. Like all our pages, it is expanded from time to time with new records, pictures and features. No factual corrections have been needed so far.
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