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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 Woods Haven (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 Woods Haven. 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.

Name Variations for Woods Haven ...

When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might have occurred.

  • A typical abbreviation for Woods Haven: Woods Hvn. (or less commonly used: Woods Havn.)
  • While the name of this community is Woods Haven, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Woods Haven may originally have been Wood's Haven.

    Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Woods Haven might be written as Wood Haven.

If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.

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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.

Woods Haven is located in Kent County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Kent County: New Castle, Sussex, Caroline (MD), Kent (MD), Queen Anne's (MD), Cape May (NJ), Cumberland (NJ) & Salem (NJ).

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

  • Kent County     (The home county of Woods Haven)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Woods Haven, with the one closest to Woods Haven listed first.
    • Milford
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Milford have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milford
      • Milford is located in Kent County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 12,278 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Milford <3>
    • Church Hill Village
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Church Hill Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Church Hill Village
      • Church Hill Village is located in Kent County
    • Houston
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Williamsville
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Frederica
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Bowers
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bowers have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bowers
      • Bowers is located in Kent County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 380 people
    • Riverview
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Riverview have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverview
      • Riverview is located in Kent County
    • Harrington
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Farmington
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Magnolia
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Magnolia have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magnolia
      • Magnolia is located in Kent County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 293 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Magnolia <3>
    • Felton
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Alexanders Village
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alexanders Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alexanders Village
      • Alexanders Village is located in Kent County
  • Sussex County
  • Caroline County (MD)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Woods Haven, with the one closest to Woods Haven listed first.
    • Hickman
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Whiteleysburg
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Henderson
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Henderson have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Henderson
      • Henderson is located in Caroline County (MD)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 143 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Henderson <3>
    • Marydel
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Goldsboro
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Greensboro
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Maple Village
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Maple Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Village
      • Maple Village is located in Caroline County (MD)
    • Oil City
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Denton
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Denton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Denton
      • Denton is located in Caroline County (MD)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,538 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Denton <3>
    • Templeville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Templeville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Templeville
      • Templeville is located in Caroline County (MD)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 116 people
    • Hollingsworth Circle
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Bridgetown
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
  • Dorchester County (MD)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Woods Haven, with the one closest to Woods Haven listed first.
    • Reliance
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Williamsburg
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Galestown
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Galestown have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galestown
      • Galestown is located in Dorchester County (MD)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 135 people
    • Marshyhope Village
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Marshyhope Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marshyhope Village
      • Marshyhope Village is located in Dorchester County (MD)
  • Queen Anne's County (MD)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Woods Haven, with the one closest to Woods Haven listed first.
    • Ingleside
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Barclay
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Roe
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Roe. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roe
      • Roe is located in Queen Anne's County (MD)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Roe
      • From Woods Haven to Roe
    • Sudlersville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sudlersville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sudlersville
      • Sudlersville is located in Queen Anne's County (MD)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 487 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sudlersville <3>
    • Queen Anne
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Queen Anne have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Queen Anne
      • Queen Anne is located in Queen Anne's County (MD)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 211 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Queen Anne <3>
    • Ruthsburg
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Ruthsburg. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ruthsburg
      • Ruthsburg is located in Queen Anne's County (MD)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Ruthsburg
      • From Woods Haven to Ruthsburg
    • Roberts
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Roberts. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roberts
      • Roberts is located in Queen Anne's County (MD)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Roberts
      • From Woods Haven to Roberts
  • Talbot County (MD)
  • Cape May County (NJ)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Woods Haven, with the one closest to Woods Haven listed first.
    • North Cape May
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Cape May have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Cape May
      • North Cape May is located in Cape May County (NJ)
    • Cold Spring
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Villas
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Villas have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Villas
      • Villas is located in Cape May County (NJ)
    • Cape May
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Erma
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Erma have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erma
      • Erma is located in Cape May County (NJ)
    • Norburys Landing
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Green Creek
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Rio Grande
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Diamond Beach
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Diamond Beach have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Diamond Beach
      • Diamond Beach is located in Cape May County (NJ)
  • Cumberland County (NJ)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Woods Haven, with the one closest to Woods Haven listed first.
    • Dividing Creek
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Turkey Point Corner
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Bivalve
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Bivalve. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bivalve
      • Bivalve is located in Cumberland County (NJ)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Bivalve
      • From Woods Haven to Bivalve
    • Port Norris
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Port Norris have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Port Norris
      • Port Norris is located in Cumberland County (NJ)
    • Cedarville
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cedarville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedarville
      • Cedarville is located in Cumberland County (NJ)

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

Cemeteries Near Woods Haven ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Woods Haven.

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.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Woods Haven, with the one closest to Woods Haven 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.<7>

While we didn't find Woods Haven in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Woods Haven.

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

  • Milford
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Milford have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milford
    • Milford is located in Kent County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 12,278 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Milford <3>
  • Lincoln
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Thompsonville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Thompsonville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thompsonville
    • Thompsonville is located in Kent County
  • Frederica
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Ellendale
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ellendale have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ellendale
    • Ellendale is located in Sussex County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 448 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ellendale <3>
  • Bowers
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bowers have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bowers
    • Bowers is located in Kent County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 380 people
  • Harrington
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Farmington
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Waples
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Waples. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waples
    • Waples is located in Sussex County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Waples
    • From Woods Haven to Waples
  • Magnolia
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Magnolia have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magnolia
    • Magnolia is located in Kent County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 293 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Magnolia <3>
  • Canterbury
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Canterbury have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canterbury
    • Canterbury is located in Kent County
  • Felton
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Robbins
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Robbins have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Robbins
      • Robbins is located in Sussex County
    • Milton
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Milton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milton
      • Milton is located in Sussex County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,129 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Milton <3>
    • Viola
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)

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

Newspapers Published in Woods Haven ...

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 5 newspapers that have been published in the area around Woods Haven.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Woods Haven, there are papers which were published within 11 miles [17.7 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Woods Haven.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 Woods Haven:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Woods Haven. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Kent County: www.co.kent.de.us/

The official website for State of Delaware: https://delaware.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>It's generally believed that possessive apostrophes are removed to prevent confusion on maps where the apostrophe may be confused with a cartographic symbol. While this is generally true, it's not uncommon to find possessive apostrophes in administrative names (such as towns or counties).
<2>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<5>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.
<6>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Woods Haven) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Woods Haven. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.9302, Longitude: -75.4134    
<7>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 Woods Haven, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025