If you are of European descent and your family has been in the United States for several generations, chances are pretty good that you’re related to a resident of Adams County, Pennsylvania, from the 1860s. (If you’re of African American descent, you might have unexpected connections as well.) Sure, you might be ninth cousins, but you’ve got a good chance of still being connected. To help with your discovery, we’ve made some feature enhancements.

To start, you’ll see in the navigation “Residents of Adams County.” Click on it, and you will find an index of more than 600 Adams County residents as of the 1860 US Census. The first big data import we’ve done is from Cumberland Township only. When we refer to “Gettysburg,” we’re often actually referring to other townships that border the namesake town. For example, a marker stands at the George Bushman farm where the Union had a large field hospital. But the George Bushman farm is actually in Cumberland Township, as are the John Edward Plank farm and the Jacob Weikert farm, among many others.

In the Residents of Adams County page, you will find a link to every person listed. Each person has at least a minimal amount of information found in the US Census. Where possible, we’ve found further confirmation about each person through sites like Find-a-Grave and other genealogical sources. These allow us to rate the quality of the evidence of that person. For now, these summaries are brief and give simple directions where else you might find additional information and evidence. In time, we’ll update those entries with richer information, including links to other sites and biographies. (Some of the most challenging entries are those of the residents of the Adams County Almshouse. The most famous resident during 1860 was Jennie Wade’s father, Captain James Wade. Beyond him, very little is known about most of these residents.)

In addition, we’ve used this data to update the Interactive Map. Where possible, we plotted people using GPS coordinates of known farms and residences (these constitute about 20 percent of entries). For the others, we’ve had to estimate the plot points based on the 1858 Adams County property map (shown on this page). Plots may need adjustment but are probably at least close enough to show reasonably well who was neighbors with whom.

More of our regular articles are coming again shortly, but we will keep adding to the map and to the new index with more people from the surrounding townships. Scroll through and see if you recognize any surnames! You never know—you might have a connection with one of America’s most significant moments.