RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Connecticut >> Windham County >> Ashford >> Genealogy HelperIndex...

Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

We have a couple of goals for our Gazetteer:

  • That it be a tool which helps us with planning our trips.
  • We're trying to shape our Gazetteer as a tool to help us understand the community in which our ancestors lived, the community that was part of their daily lives.
  • On our trips, we try to visit those places where our ancestors left their footprints.

By learning about Ashford (and the surrounding area) during the time that our ancestors lived, we hope to have a better understanding of both their community and its relationship to their lifes. We hope that this tool helps to give us an insight into their world.

As we add data and organize our Gazetteer to help with our family research, we will be adding to this our Genealogical Helper for Ashford. While we don't have information that is specific to any given person or family, we intend to expand our understanding about where and how people lived.

Neighboring Counties ...

When searching for family records, we have frequently made the mistake of not checking the neighboring counties.

For example, we have great-grandparents who lived in the northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the east. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the north.

So when searching for records, we had our best success by looking in neighboring counties instead of the county in which they lived:  their home county contained property and probate records; the county to the east contained birth and death records; the county to the north contained their burial records. If we hadn't included the neighboring counties, we would have missed many valuable sources of information.

If you're in a similar situation, we hope that the following information helps.

Ashford is located in Windham County.

To see how the shape of Connecticut's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Windham County: New London, Tolland, Worcester (MA), Kent (RI) & Providence (RI).

Below are the counties that are near Ashford. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Ashford:

  • Windham County     (The home county of Ashford)
  • Hartford County
  • Middlesex County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ashford, with the one closest to Ashford listed first.
    • Lake Pocotopaug
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Lake Pocotopaug is located in Middlesex County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Pocotopaug
    • East Hampton
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • East Hampton is located in Middlesex County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Hampton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 12,747 people
    • East Hampton
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Crowley Corner
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • East Haddam
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • East Haddam is located in Middlesex County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Haddam
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 8,956 people
    • Moodus
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Portland
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Portland is located in Middlesex County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Portland
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,213 people
  • New London County
  • Tolland County
  • Hampden County (MA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ashford, with the one closest to Ashford listed first.
    • Holland
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Wales
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • State Line
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Brimfield
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Brimfield is located in Hampden County (MA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brimfield
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,679 people
    • South Factory Village
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • South Factory Village is located in Hampden County (MA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Factory Village
    • Monson
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Hampden
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Hampden is located in Hampden County (MA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hampden
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,154 people
    • Baptist Village
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Baptist Village is located in Hampden County (MA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baptist Village
    • Tenneyville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • West Brimfield
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • West Brimfield is located in Hampden County (MA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Brimfield
    • Palmer
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Wilbraham
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
  • Hampshire County (MA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ashford, with the one closest to Ashford listed first.
    • Bondsville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Bondsville is located in Hampshire County (MA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bondsville
    • Ware
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
  • Worcester County (MA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ashford, with the one closest to Ashford listed first.
    • Globe Village
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Globe Village is located in Worcester County (MA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Globe Village
    • Southbridge
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Dudley
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Dudley is located in Worcester County (MA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dudley
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 11,663 people
    • Fiskdale
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Old Sturbridge Village
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Old Sturbridge Village is located in Worcester County (MA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Sturbridge Village
    • Sturbridge
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Sturbridge is located in Worcester County (MA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sturbridge
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,561 people
    • Merino Village ‑ Historic
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Merino Village is located in Worcester County (MA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merino Village
    • Tufts Village ‑ Historic
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Tufts Village is located in Worcester County (MA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tufts Village
    • Webster
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Webster is located in Worcester County (MA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Webster
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 16,822 people
      • Webster has also been known as:
      • Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Webster
      • From Ashford to Webster
    • East Village
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • East Village is located in Worcester County (MA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Village
    • Charlton
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Charlton is located in Worcester County (MA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charlton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 13,698 people
    • West Oxford
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
  • Kent County (RI)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ashford, with the one closest to Ashford listed first.
    • Rice City
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Rice City is located in Kent County (RI)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rice City
    • Greene
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Coventry
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Coventry is located in Kent County (RI)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coventry
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 34,931 people
    • Gortons Corner
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Kitts Corner
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
    • West Greenwich
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Providence County (RI)
  • Washington County (RI)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ashford, with the one closest to Ashford listed first.
    • Lewis City
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Lewis City is located in Washington County (RI)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lewis City
    • Austin
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)

For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Ashford, see our County-by-County Page for Ashford.

Cemeteries Near Ashford ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Ashford.

This is a new section and is likely to have errors. If you find an error, such as a missing cemetery or we have the wrong name, please let us know. If you know of them, we would also appreciate learning about previous or alternate names.

Although we don't have the information ourselves, if you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our list of websites on our Genealogy Helper Page for Ashford - one of the links might be able to help.

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Ashford covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Ashford, with the one closest to Ashford listed first.

Nearby Communities in 1895 ...

We've built the following list with information that came from an Atlas published by Rand McNally in 1895. The Atlas had details such as the population of the community (which appears to have come from the 1890 Census) and whether there was a post office and/or railroad service available. We also indicate if the community no longer exists and is now historic.<3>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Ashford had a population of 25 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

These communities are listed based on their distance from Ashford, with the one closest to Ashford listed first.

We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Ashford. See our List of 1890's Communities around Ashford.

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Ashford ...

An ongoing effort between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has resulted in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).

To share their results, the partnership has created the Chronicling America website. The goal of this partnership is to assemble a database about the current and historic newspapers of the United States. This includes a growing collection of scanned images from selected papers. All of it available to the public on their website.

Using information that we've taken from the Chronicling America website, we've identified 88 newspapers that have been published in the area around Ashford.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Ashford. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Ashford and those printed in the larger area surrounding Ashford.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 16 miles [25.7 km]<4> of Ashford.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These websites either offer the information directly or else point to where you can find it. Their information is open to everyone.

To help you get started, the following links will take you to the pages that are relevant to Ashford:

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>The Find-a-Grave website is an excellent research tool with information about a cemetery's location and interments. They also offer a forum for their members which can provide additional help. More information about Find-a-Grave can be found on their website: findagrave.com.
<3>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Ashford, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Ashford) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.