The maps found in the table below give the Union Parish post offices and villages in existence on these dates, as well as the known river landings. David Dawkins prepared these maps using United States Postal Commission data as well as other historical information about Union Parish during the 1839 – 1905 time period. Dawkins drew these maps over a modern Union Parish map that shows the water courses and the range, township, and section lines. This allows one to determine the precise location in the parish at which a particular individual lived in relation to the villages and water courses.

David Dawkins' Union Parish Louisiana Period Maps
1855	1875	1895	1905
Early 1900s Railroad Map

Notes

• When the State Legislature originally created Union Parish in March 1839, her southwestern border extend much further to the southwest than it does today. In fact, between 1839 and 1845, the modern City of Ruston lay in the southwestern corner of Union Parish. Much of the southwestern portion of Union cut off and put into Jackson Parish in 1845.
• This series of maps was drawn over a modern map of Union Parish Louisiana. The modern parish boundaries shown on these maps date from 1873, when Lincoln Parish was formed from territory taken from Bienville, Claiborne, Jackson, Ouachita, and Union Parishes. Thus, the southwestern boundary of the parish shown on the 1855 map is not entirely accurate, as Union's borders during this period extended some six or eight miles further south along what is now Highway 33, as well as a few miles south along what is now Highway 167, south of modern Bernice. Unfortunately, we had no easy way to show the accurate southwestern boundary for Union Parish on this 1855 map. Several communities formed in this region between 1845 and 1873, including Mineral Springs.
• The maps above give the locations of the major villages and settlements in existence on the date of the map. In some cases, mainly with the smaller post offices, the exact location changed with the postmaster. This appears to have been the case with the Spring Hill and Hobson's post offices, for example. There were numerous small post offices that only lasted a few years. These maps do not necessarily show all of the smaller post offices that only had a brief existence. For a complete list of post offices approved by the United States Postal Commission, see the Union Parish Post Office Page.
• For more information on President Thomas Jefferson's Public Land Survey System and how to identify specific land locations within Union Parish, visit the links found at the bottom of the Union Parish Land Page.

To view other maps of Union Parish Louisiana, visit the
Union Parish Louisiana Map Page

Go back to:
Union Parish Louisiana USGenWeb Archives Main Page

This page was last updated on 6 March 2010.
Thanks to David Dawkins for his efforts in researching and preparing these maps for the Union Parish Archives.

©LAGenWeb Archives Project