Historical Mission Boundaries Map

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jaocon
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Historical Mission Boundaries Map

#1

Post by jaocon »

I believe I am aware that mission boundaries are viewable on https://classic.churchofjesuschrist.org/maps - what I would like to know is whether historical mission boundaries could be available ( I know that would probably be a bunch of work)? I guess it would require a historical layer for different time periods or something - might not be too easy... Is it proper then to refer to the current mission name for the area most like the formerly named mission in FamilySearch?
It also isn't too easy to see the mission areas labeled - it appears you have to do a combination of selecting the mission layer in the settings and view multiple missions and select the star and click the map to have the mission name appear.
lajackson
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Re: Historical Mission Boundaries Map

#2

Post by lajackson »

jaocon wrote:Is it proper then to refer to the current mission name for the area most like the formerly named mission in FamilySearch?
I am not sure exactly what you are trying to do. But with the Church News archives, including its no longer published Almanac, it is not difficult to figure out the former names of missions in a given area, especially if you are going back a ways in time.

It would take some detective work, although if there are not too many you are researching, it would be a fun project and should not take too much time.
jaocon
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Re: Historical Mission Boundaries Map

#3

Post by jaocon »

Hope I can be clear what I am after (but it's not available). I am trying to refer to a historical mission (which obviously had different map boundaries than the current ones). I know the name of the mission - Cumorah Mission - i believe it's mission home was in Rochester - but I don't know it's map boundaries during the timeframe it was a mission. When I attach that mission to a relation in FamilySearch - as a custom event since Mission isn't a currently defined event - it would be nice if FamilySearch already had the mission names/boundaries to attach to that event - obviously that would take some approval and work to create those historical mission boundary maps. Essentially the 'Historical Missions map project' would be a time lapse of mission boundaries as they were created and changed over time. Apparently - https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/cal ... p?lang=eng
used to have pdfs of mission boundaries - I don't know if it included historical missions no longer in existence.
Hopefully that clears up what I am wondering about - in the meantime I'll just have to refer to New York Syracuse Mission I guess (the closest boundaries I guess).
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jwthomasbennion
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Re: Historical Mission Boundaries Map

#4

Post by jwthomasbennion »

Good idea -- I'd be interested in it too.
Because sometimes I read in an old obituary that says the person served in "the eastern states mission". But to pinpoint that on an ancestor's FamilySearch profile as a 2-year place of residence (thus showing up as a pin-point on his timeline map), I would need to know where the mission home was at that time.
lajackson
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Re: Historical Mission Boundaries Map

#5

Post by lajackson »

Okay. I understand now. Of course, one of the challenges is that someone who served in the Eastern States Mission, for example, may have been at the mission home once or twice in two and a half or three years, but served the most time in a totally different state.

But I believe it is an excellent idea.
russellhltn
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Re: Historical Mission Boundaries Map

#6

Post by russellhltn »

Given the lack of specificity, I think the best solution is to simply enter "The Eastern States Mission" as the location, but for the standardized location (Only really required if it's a birth/marriage/death place), use 'United States". It takes some playing games with the system, but I'm pretty sure you can get that result. Perhaps it's easier if you input "The Eastern States Mission, United States".
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
jaocon
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Re: Historical Mission Boundaries Map

#7

Post by jaocon »

To make this topic even more complex - once the mission boundary map was created it would be nice to enter locations corresponding to mission journal entries. So you could end up with timeline journal entries and a 'path' where the missionary travelled during their mission. I guess all that could be done in a google map - but isn't that sort of what FamilySearch is doing?

So I have found:
http://www.mission.net/cgi-bin/mission_ ... n=show_all
The project would need a list to begin...
russellhltn
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Re: Historical Mission Boundaries Map

#8

Post by russellhltn »

I haven't used it except to the extent that it's created from sources, but each individual has a "residence" location with a date attached. I'd think you'd could put that in there.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
jaocon
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Re: Historical Mission Boundaries Map

#9

Post by jaocon »

Good point Russell - i guess they would be residing in the mission ... but that still doesn't help me with the mission boundaries map.
I also found MIssionary Database for prior to 1860 Elders:
https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org ... d?lang=eng
It would be cool if FamilySearch would go ahead and link that database with the Tree - I don't know maybe they already have...

and a document that apparently has what I need at CHL - but currently the CHL is closed and apparently I would not have access to it anyway :(
https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org ... iew=browse

Mission supervisor records: Eastern American missions, 1965-1968
Call Number: CR 313 20
Terms Governing Access: Closed to research. :(
Rights: Copyright Not Evaluated.
Creation Date(s): 1965-1968
Language: eng
Physical Description: 5 boxes
Containers Path: CR 313 20/b0002/f0013

I guess what I am saying with all this is - it would be nice if FamilySearch Tree had a predefined 'Mission' event that had the Mission boundary map and I could go in and add locations served and images of his mission journal to - I am sure they will get around to it eventually :)
jaocon
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Re: Historical Mission Boundaries Map

#10

Post by jaocon »

Thinking about it - I guess the differences between a Residence event and a predefined 'mission' event as I am thinking above - is the ability to add multiple Residences and have those grouped in a containing 'mission' event and be able to attach Memories to that event. I am not sure if Stories limitation of 10 photos would mean there would be a limit ... I guess that's why I haven't thought to create a mission Story - because of this limit. I guess mission journal entries could be Stories though. Hmm, maybe that's the difference between a document and a story - still with a 15mb limit though... Maybe I'll soon figure out what I'm supposed to do to correctly record a mission in the Tree.
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