RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Massachusetts >> Hampden County >> Agawam >> 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 Agawam (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 Agawam. 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.

A Few Details for Agawam ...

While it's still very early in our research, we found that:

  • Agawam was settled in 1635.
  • It was incorporated in 1855.

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 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.

Agawam is located in Hampden County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Hampden County: Hartford (CT), Litchfield (CT), Tolland (CT), Berkshire, Hampshire & Worcester.

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

  • Hampden County     (The home county of Agawam)
  • Berkshire County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Agawam, with the one closest to Agawam listed first.
    • East Otis
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
      • East Otis is located in Berkshire County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Otis
    • Otis
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • North Otis
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Sandisfield
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • South Sandisfield
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • West Becket
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Becket
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Becket is located in Berkshire County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Becket
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,707 people
  • Franklin County
  • Hampshire County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Agawam, with the one closest to Agawam listed first.
    • Southampton
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Southampton is located in Hampshire County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Southampton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,162 people
    • Easthampton
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Granby
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Granby is located in Hampshire County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Granby
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,262 people
    • South Hadley
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Mount Tom
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Bondsville
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Bondsville is located in Hampshire County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bondsville
    • Bay State
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Northampton
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • West Farms
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Huntington
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Huntington is located in Hampshire County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huntington
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,159 people
    • Florence
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Hadley
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Belchertown
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
  • Worcester County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Agawam, with the one closest to Agawam listed first.
    • West Warren
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Warren
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Warren is located in Worcester County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warren
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,203 people
    • Fiskdale
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Greenwich ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Old Sturbridge Village
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Gilbertville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • West Brookfield
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Sturbridge
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Sturbridge is located in Worcester County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sturbridge
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,561 people
    • Greenwich Village ‑ Historic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Brookfield
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Brookfield is located in Worcester County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brookfield
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,439 people
    • Hardwick
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Hardwick is located in Worcester County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hardwick
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,047 people
    • Globe Village
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Globe Village is located in Worcester County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Globe Village
    • Southbridge
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
  • Hartford County (CT)
  • Litchfield County (CT)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Agawam, with the one closest to Agawam listed first.
    • Hampsted
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Hampsted is located in Litchfield County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hampsted
    • Barkhamsted
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Barkhamsted
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Barkhamsted is located in Litchfield County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barkhamsted
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,587 people
    • Riverton
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • New Hartford
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Pine Meadow
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Pleasant Valley
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Puddle Town
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Puddle Town is located in Litchfield County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Puddle Town
    • Browns Corner
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Colebrook
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Colebrook is located in Litchfield County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colebrook
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,396 people
    • Nepaug
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • New Hartford
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • New Hartford is located in Litchfield County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Hartford
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,639 people
    • Colebrook
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
  • Tolland County (CT)
  • Windham County (CT)

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

Cemeteries Near Agawam ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Agawam.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Agawam, with the one closest to Agawam 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.<4>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Agawam had a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Agawam had a population of 28,467 people.

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

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Agawam ...

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 60 newspapers that have been published in the area around Agawam.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Agawam. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Agawam and those printed in the larger area surrounding Agawam.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 10 miles [16.1 km]<5> of Agawam.

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 Agawam:

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>The Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) has created and maintains a database of historic properties that is called MACRIS (for the Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System). More information about the MHC and MACRIS can be found on their website: mhc-macris.net.

When visiting the MACRIS website, you might encounter their page requiring the 'Acceptance of Terms'. With your acceptance, you'll be transfered to the desired page.

<4>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 Agawam, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<5>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Agawam) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.