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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 Dorchester (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 Dorchester. 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 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.

Dorchester is located in Macoupin County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Macoupin County: Greene, Jersey, Madison, Montgomery, Morgan & Sangamon.

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

  • Macoupin County     (The home county of Dorchester)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dorchester, with the one closest to Dorchester listed first.
    • Wilsonville
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Mount Clare
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Mount Clare is located in Macoupin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Clare
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 262 people
    • Benld
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Sawyerville
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Gillespie
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Royal Lakes
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Royal Lakes is located in Macoupin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Royal Lakes
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 185 people
      • Royal Lakes has also been known as:
      • Royal Lakes village
    • Bunker Hill
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Eagarville
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • East Gillespie
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • East Gillespie is located in Macoupin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Gillespie
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 259 people
    • White City
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • White City is located in Macoupin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 230 people
    • Lake Ka-ho
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Lake Ka-ho is located in Macoupin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Ka-ho
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 214 people
      • Lake Ka-ho has also been known as:
      • Lake Ka-Ho village
    • Plainview
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Staunton
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Bond County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dorchester, with the one closest to Dorchester listed first.
    • Sorento
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Reno
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Old Ripley
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Old Ripley is located in Bond County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Ripley
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 98 people
    • Pocahontas
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Pierron
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Greenville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Greene County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dorchester, with the one closest to Dorchester listed first.
    • Rockbridge
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Greenfield
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Kane
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Mid City ‑ Historic
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Mid City is located in Greene County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mid City
    • Wrights
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Jersey County
  • Madison County
  • Montgomery County
  • Saint Charles County (MO)
  • Saint Louis County (MO)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dorchester, with the one closest to Dorchester listed first.
    • Spanish Lake
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Spanish Lake is located in Saint Louis County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spanish Lake
    • Black Jack
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Black Jack is located in Saint Louis County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Black Jack
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,921 people
    • Glasgow Village
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Glasgow Village is located in Saint Louis County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glasgow Village
    • Bellefontaine Neighbors
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Bellefontaine Neighbors is located in Saint Louis County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bellefontaine Neighbors
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 10,297 people
    • Castle Point
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Castle Point is located in Saint Louis County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Castle Point
    • Riverview
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Riverview is located in Saint Louis County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverview
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,821 people
    • Dellwood
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Dellwood is located in Saint Louis County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dellwood
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,994 people
    • Moline Acres
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Moline Acres is located in Saint Louis County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moline Acres
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,339 people

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

Cemeteries Near Dorchester ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Dorchester.

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

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

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

  • Luken Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Clark Family Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • Tine Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Bunker Hill City Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Morrison Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Benld Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Holy Assumption Russian Orthodox Creek Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Cahokia Holy Cross Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Gillespie City Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Centerville Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • St. Marys Catholic Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Mize Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (432 more) ...
    • Funderbunk Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Wheeler Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)

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.<2>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Dorchester had a population of 104 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Dorchester had a population of 137 people.

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

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

Newspapers Published in Dorchester ...

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 94 newspapers that have been published in the area around Dorchester.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Dorchester, there are papers which were published within 24 miles [38.6 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Dorchester.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin with 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 Dorchester:

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>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 Dorchester, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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- Dorchester) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.