If you have at least one Maine ancestor “way back” – I’m talking 200 years ago or more, there are some publications you’ll probably want to have for your very own, items worth keeping at hand because you’ll use them so often. They are:

. A good atlas or book of maps of Maine.

. 1790 Census of Maine.

. “Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire.”

. “Length and Breadth of Maine.”

These are the big four I’ve used for 20 years or so.

Surely you can get by with a one-page foldout map of Maine, something that gives you a good overall view of the state and its 16 counties. But a book of maps of the state by section – whether topographical or not – offers us so much more detail. Delorme’s The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer is one example of such a book, and there are others.

Perhaps you have ancestors buried in Clinton, but you haven’t thought to check Unity, which is right next door, because you tend to think of Clinton only as a Kennebec County town, rather than one that is so near Waldo County.

If you roam the roads of Maine looking for where your forbears lived or may have lived, I hope you can take someone along. It’s always good to have one to drive and one to navigate. I’m the one who has said so often to my husband, “Oh, let’s go back and take that road.”

We always knew that a good chunk of my family history went “way back” in Maine, because my grandmother Ione Bennett Moore could tell me about two lines that went back to the American Revolution. The Moore line, it turned out, wasn’t exactly right, but the Bennett line she gave me was right on the mark.

Let’s face it, if we had ancestors in the Revolution 1775-1783, many of them would still have been around by the time the 1790 census was compiled. Maine, of course, wouldn’t be a state until 1820, which is why earlier records often fall under the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. But the census records, or census indexes as we call them in later years, have been broken out for publication as though Maine were already a state. So, look for Mainers, the heads of households anyway, in 1790 Census of Maine.

Keep in mind that many of the town names have been changed. Looking for Bangor? Search Conduskeag Plantation, then a part of Hancock County, rather than today’s Penobscot County. Note that residents of Gorham and Scarborough Towns are enumerated together, as though one town. If your ancestor came from Baldwin in Cumberland County, however, check Flintstown in the 1790 Census.

This book is still in print, so you may find it in bookstores. Or, contact Picton Press, P.O. Box 250, Rockport, ME 04856, asking for the 1790 census, which was reprinted as a project with the Maine Genealogical Society. Or call 236-6585. The cost is $20 plus shipping. One advantage to this annotated edition of the census is that a good number of the heads of household of that census have been included in one of several volumes of “Maine Families of 1790,” and they are so marked.

Another source I couldn’t do without is “Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire,” by Noyes, Libby, Davis. For those of us who had ancestors in 1600s Maine or New Hampshire, this book is a treasure. Looking for Hayes, Wharf, Ingersoll, Starbuck, Libby, Fogg, Draper, Colcord, Bass, Trickey, Sleeper, Leavitt, Starbuck or dozens of other early Maine names? Try this book.

Originally published in Portland, the book is in reprint by Genealogical Publishing Co., 1001 North Calvert St., Baltimore, MD 21202, telephone (800) 296-6687, or on the Web at www.genealogical.com. The price is about $40 plus shipping.

The last is an oldie last printed by the University of Maine in the 1970s, Stanley Bearce Attwood’s “Length and Breadth of Maine.” It offers each town’s boundaries, year of incorporation, what it used to be known as, and more. Unfortunately, I’ve seen this book mostly in libraries. It is now something of a rare book, and can be pricey in old bookstores. My fond wish is that the University of Maine will reprint it someday – and be surprised at how it sells all over the country.

PARSONS-HORTON. Looking for parents and siblings of both Joshua Parsons, b. about 1785, d. 1840 in Montville; and wife Hannah Smith Horton Parsons, b. 1801 in Camden, d. 1867, Montville. They were parents of Samuel Parsons, b. 1835. Did they have other children? Margaret Millay, 627 Fishtown Road, Liberty 04949.

Send genealogy queries to Family Ties, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, ME 04402; or send e-mail to familyti@bangordailynews.net.