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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 Erving (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 Erving. 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 Erving ...

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

  • Erving was settled in 1801.
  • It was incorporated in 1838.

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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the east. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the south.

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 south 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.

Erving is located in Franklin 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 Franklin County: Berkshire, Hampshire, Worcester, Cheshire (NH) & Windham (VT).

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

  • Franklin County     (The home county of Erving)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Erving, with the one closest to Erving listed first.
    • Wendell Depot
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Wendell Depot is located in Franklin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wendell Depot
    • Wendell
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Wendell is located in Franklin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wendell
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 881 people
    • Orange
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Gill
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Gill is located in Franklin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gill
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,473 people
    • Morse Village
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
      • Morse Village is located in Franklin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Morse Village
    • Millers Falls
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Warwick
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Mount Hermon
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Lake Pleasant
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Lake Pleasant is located in Franklin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Pleasant
    • Mayo Corners
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Locks Village
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
      • Locks Village is located in Franklin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locks Village
    • Factory Village ‑ Historic
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • Factory Village is located in Franklin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Factory Village
  • Berkshire County
  • Hampden County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Erving, with the one closest to Erving listed first.
    • Ludlow City
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Ludlow City is located in Hampden County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ludlow City
    • Thorndike
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Thorndike is located in Hampden County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thorndike
    • Three Rivers
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Holyoke
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Ludlow
      (30 miles [48.3 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
    • North Wilbraham
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
    • Palmer
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
    • West Brimfield
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • West Brimfield is located in Hampden County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Brimfield
  • Hampshire County
  • Middlesex County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Erving, with the one closest to Erving listed first.
    • Ashby
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • South Village
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • South Village is located in Middlesex County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Village
  • Worcester County
  • Cheshire County (NH)
  • Hillsborough County (NH)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Erving, with the one closest to Erving listed first.
    • Sharon
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • West Peterborough
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • New Ipswich
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Peterborough
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Bennington County (VT)
  • Windham County (VT)

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

Cemeteries Near Erving ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Erving.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Erving, with the one closest to Erving 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 Erving had a population of 875 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Erving had a population of 1,749 people.

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

  • Wendell Depot
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Wendell Depot is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wendell Depot
  • Farley
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Farley is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farley
  • Wendell
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Wendell is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wendell
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 881 people
  • Northfield Farms
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Northfield Farms is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Northfield Farms
  • Orange
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Millers Falls
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • North New Salem
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • North New Salem is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North New Salem
  • Gill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Gill is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gill
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,473 people
  • Lake Pleasant
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Lake Pleasant is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Pleasant
  • East Northfield
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • East Northfield is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Northfield
  • Warwick
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Mount Hermon
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • North Leverett
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
      • North Leverett is located in Franklin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Leverett
    • Locks Village
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
      • Locks Village is located in Franklin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locks Village
    • New Salem
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
      • New Salem is located in Franklin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Salem
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,034 people

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

Newspapers Published in Erving ...

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 62 newspapers that have been published in the area around Erving.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Erving, there are papers which were published within 16 miles [25.7 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Erving.

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 professional and volunteer 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 Erving:

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