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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 Briarwood Beach (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 Briarwood Beach. 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 Briarwood Beach ...

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.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Briarwood Beach: Briarwood Bch.

You might be interested in other communities that are also named Briarwood Beach. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Briarwood Beach.

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 hospitals and doctors 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.

Briarwood Beach is located in Plymouth 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 Plymouth County: Barnstable, Bristol & Norfolk.

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

  • Plymouth County     (The home county of Briarwood Beach)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Briarwood Beach, with the one closest to Briarwood Beach listed first.
    • Weweantic
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Weweantic is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weweantic
    • Wareham
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Wareham is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wareham
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 22,778 people
    • Wareham Center
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
      • Wareham Center is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wareham Center
    • Marion
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • East Wareham
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • East Wareham is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Wareham
    • Onset Station
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • West Wareham
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • West Wareham is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Wareham
    • Onset
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Rochester
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Cranberry Village
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Cranberry Village is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cranberry Village
    • Pine Tree Village
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Pine Tree Village is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Tree Village
    • White Island Shores
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • White Island Shores is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White Island Shores
    • Mattapoisett
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Mattapoisett is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mattapoisett
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,427 people
  • Barnstable County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Briarwood Beach, with the one closest to Briarwood Beach listed first.
    • Buzzards Bay
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Buzzards Bay is located in Barnstable County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buzzards Bay
    • Monument Beach
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Monument Beach is located in Barnstable County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monument Beach
    • Bourne
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Bourne is located in Barnstable County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bourne
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 19,743 people
    • Pocasset
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Cataumet
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Cataumet is located in Barnstable County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cataumet
    • Silver Beach
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Silver Beach is located in Barnstable County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Beach
    • North Falmouth
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • North Falmouth is located in Barnstable County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Falmouth
    • West Falmouth
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • West Falmouth is located in Barnstable County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Falmouth
    • Sagamore Beach
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Sagamore Beach is located in Barnstable County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sagamore Beach
    • Sagamore
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Sagamore is located in Barnstable County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sagamore
    • Hatchville
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Forestdale
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Sandwich
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
  • Bristol County
  • Dukes County
  • Norfolk County
  • Bristol County (RI)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Briarwood Beach, with the one closest to Briarwood Beach listed first.
    • Coggeshall
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Bristol
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Bristol is located in Bristol County (RI)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bristol
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 21,866 people
    • Bristol
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Warren
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Warren is located in Bristol County (RI)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warren
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 10,469 people
    • Warren
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Barrington
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Barrington
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Barrington is located in Bristol County (RI)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barrington
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 16,015 people
  • Newport County (RI)

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

Cemeteries Near Briarwood Beach ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Briarwood Beach.

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 Briarwood Beach - one of the links might be able to help.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Briarwood Beach, with the one closest to Briarwood Beach 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>

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

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

  • Wareham
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Wareham is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wareham
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 22,778 people
  • South Wareham
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • South Wareham is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Wareham
  • Marion
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • West Wareham
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • West Wareham is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Wareham
  • Tremont
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Tremont is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tremont
  • Onset Station
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • East Wareham
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • East Wareham is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Wareham
  • Onset
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Rochester
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Mattapoisett
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Mattapoisett is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mattapoisett
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,427 people
  • Monument Beach
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Monument Beach is located in Barnstable County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monument Beach
  • Buzzards Bay
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Buzzards Bay is located in Barnstable County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buzzards Bay
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Howlands
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Howlands is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Howlands
    • Pocasset
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Bourne
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Bourne is located in Barnstable County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bourne
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 19,743 people

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

Newspapers Published in Briarwood Beach ...

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 106 newspapers that have been published in the area around Briarwood Beach.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Briarwood Beach, there are papers which were published within 13 miles [20.9 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Briarwood Beach.

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 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 Briarwood Beach:

Footnotes ...

<1>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.

<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 Briarwood Beach, 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 from Point A (ie- Briarwood Beach) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.