For years I didn't really give my ancestor's location much thought. I noticed that my maternal second great grandfather was living in a new location for each census. How many people move around that much? One time I got curious and found a township and county map so that I could trace where he and his family were each decade. It looked as though he moved around in a circle. After that, I didn't consider maps and locations of much importance. I didn't think about how the area during that time was changing or how the boundaries may have affected their lives. I didn't think about what history might tell me about the time period and how that affected their lives. I didn't think about the fact that the ancestors being researched were on the frontier. I definitely didn't think about what that really meant for my ancestors. I had a lot to learn. What does the actual study of location entail? I started by finding a map of the area for the span of years I