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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 Westford (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 Westford. 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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals were in the next county to the east. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the south.

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 south 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.

Westford 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 Westford. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Westford:

  • Windham County     (The home county of Westford)
  • Hartford County
  • Middlesex County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Westford, with the one closest to Westford listed first.
    • Lake Pocotopaug
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Lake Pocotopaug is located in Middlesex County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Pocotopaug
    • East Hampton
      (29 miles [46.7 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
      (29 miles [46.7 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
  • Franklin County (MA)
  • Hampden County (MA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Westford, with the one closest to Westford listed first.
    • Holland
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Wales
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • State Line
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • South Factory Village
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • South Factory Village is located in Hampden County (MA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Factory Village
    • Brimfield
      (14 miles [22.5 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
    • Monson
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Hampden
      (15 miles [24.1 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
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Baptist Village is located in Hampden County (MA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baptist Village
    • Tenneyville
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • West Brimfield
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • West Brimfield is located in Hampden County (MA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Brimfield
    • Palmer
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • East Longmeadow
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • East Longmeadow is located in Hampden County (MA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Longmeadow
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 16,093 people
  • Hampshire County (MA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Westford, with the one closest to Westford listed first.
    • Bondsville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Bondsville is located in Hampshire County (MA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bondsville
    • Ware
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Belchertown
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Enfield ‑ Historic
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Granby
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Granby is located in Hampshire County (MA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Granby
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,262 people
  • Worcester County (MA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Westford, with the one closest to Westford listed first.
    • Southbridge
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Fiskdale
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Old Sturbridge Village
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Old Sturbridge Village is located in Worcester County (MA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Sturbridge Village
    • Sturbridge
      (13 miles [20.9 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
    • Globe Village
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Globe Village is located in Worcester County (MA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Globe Village
    • 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
    • Tufts Village ‑ Historic
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Tufts Village is located in Worcester County (MA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tufts Village
    • 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
    • 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 Westford to Webster
    • Charlton City
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Charlton
      (18 miles [29 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
    • 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
  • Kent County (RI)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Westford, with the one closest to Westford listed first.
    • Rice City
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Rice City is located in Kent County (RI)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rice City
    • Greene
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Coventry
      (29 miles [46.7 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
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Providence County (RI)

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

Cemeteries Near Westford ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Westford.

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 Westford - one of the links might be able to help.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Westford, with the one closest to Westford 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 Westford had a population of 89 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

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

Newspapers Published in Westford ...

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 84 newspapers that have been published in the area around Westford.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Westford, there are papers which were published within 16 miles [25.7 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Westford.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These websites 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 Westford:

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 Westford, 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Westford) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.