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

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

  • Amherst was settled in 1703.
  • It was incorporated in 1775.

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.

Amherst is located in Hampshire 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 Hampshire County: Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden & Worcester.

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

  • Hampshire County     (The home county of Amherst)
  • Berkshire County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Amherst, with the one closest to Amherst listed first.
    • East Windsor
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Peru
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Peru is located in Berkshire County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peru
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 833 people
    • Becket
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Becket is located in Berkshire County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Becket
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,707 people
    • Windsor
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Savoy
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • East Otis
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • East Otis is located in Berkshire County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Otis
    • Drury
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Washington
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Franklin County
  • Hampden County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Amherst, with the one closest to Amherst listed first.
    • Ludlow City
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Ludlow City is located in Hampden County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ludlow City
    • Holyoke
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Aldenville
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Indian Orchard
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Ludlow
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • Ludlow is located in Hampden County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ludlow
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 21,101 people
    • Three Rivers
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Chicopee
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • North Wilbraham
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Thorndike
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Thorndike is located in Hampden County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thorndike
    • Palmer
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Merrick
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Merrick is located in Hampden County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merrick
    • Hampton Village
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
      • Hampton Village is located in Hampden County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hampton Village
  • Worcester County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Amherst, with the one closest to Amherst listed first.
    • Greenwich ‑ Historic
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Greenwich Village ‑ Historic
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Dana ‑ Historic
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • North Dana ‑ Historic
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Gilbertville
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Hardwick
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Hardwick is located in Worcester County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hardwick
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,047 people
    • Petersham
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • West Warren
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Wheelwright
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
      • Wheelwright is located in Worcester County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wheelwright
    • New Braintree
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • New Braintree is located in Worcester County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Braintree
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,020 people
    • Warren
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Warren is located in Worcester County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warren
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,203 people
    • Athol
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Hartford County (CT)
  • Tolland County (CT)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Amherst, with the one closest to Amherst listed first.
    • State Line
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Somers
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Somers is located in Tolland County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Somers
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 10,741 people
    • Somers
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Somersville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Stafford
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Stafford is located in Tolland County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stafford
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 11,834 people
    • Stafford
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Staffordville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Cheshire County (NH)
  • Windham County (VT)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Amherst, with the one closest to Amherst listed first.
    • South Vernon
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Vernon
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Vernon is located in Windham County (VT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vernon
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,190 people
    • Guilford
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Guilford is located in Windham County (VT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Guilford
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,102 people
    • Halifax
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Guilford
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
    • Halifax
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Halifax is located in Windham County (VT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halifax
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 674 people

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

Cemeteries Near Amherst ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Amherst.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Amherst, with the one closest to Amherst 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 Amherst had a population of 2,962 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Amherst had a population of 40,643 people.

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

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Amherst ...

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 55 newspapers that have been published in the area around Amherst.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Amherst. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Amherst and those printed in the larger area surrounding Amherst.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 16 miles [25.7 km]<5> of Amherst.

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 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 Amherst:

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 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.

<3>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.
<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 Amherst, 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' (or 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- Amherst) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.