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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 Maynard (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 Maynard. 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 Maynard ...

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

  • Maynard was settled in 1638.
  • It was incorporated in 1871.

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 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.

Maynard is located in Middlesex 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 Middlesex County: Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk, Worcester & Hillsborough (NH).

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

  • Middlesex County     (The home county of Maynard)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Maynard, with the one closest to Maynard listed first.
    • Lower Village
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Lower Village is located in Middlesex County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lower Village
    • North Sudbury
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Stow
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Acton
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Acton is located in Middlesex County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Acton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 23,503 people
    • West Concord
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • West Concord is located in Middlesex County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Concord
    • Musketamquid Village
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Musketamquid Village is located in Middlesex County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Musketamquid Village
    • Sudbury
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Boxborough
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Baker Bridge
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Concord
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Concord is located in Middlesex County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Concord
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 18,765 people
    • New Town ‑ Historic
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • New Town is located in Middlesex County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Town
    • Village of Nagog Woods
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Hudson
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Hudson is located in Middlesex County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hudson
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 19,732 people
  • Bristol County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Maynard, with the one closest to Maynard listed first.
    • Mansfield
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
    • North Easton
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • North Easton is located in Bristol County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Easton
  • Essex County
  • Norfolk County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Maynard, with the one closest to Maynard listed first.
    • Wellesley Farms
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Wellesley Farms is located in Norfolk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wellesley Farms
    • Wellesley Hills
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Wellesley Hills is located in Norfolk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wellesley Hills
    • Wellesley
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Babson Park
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Babson Park is located in Norfolk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Babson Park
    • Needham Heights
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Needham Heights is located in Norfolk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Needham Heights
    • Charles River Village
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Dover
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Needham
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Needham is located in Norfolk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Needham
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 31,537 people
    • Westbrook Village
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Westbrook Village is located in Norfolk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westbrook Village
    • Brookline Village
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Brookline Village is located in Norfolk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brookline Village
    • Brookline
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Millis
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Millis is located in Norfolk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millis
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 8,519 people
    • Medfield
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Medfield is located in Norfolk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Medfield
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 13,011 people
  • Plymouth County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Maynard, with the one closest to Maynard listed first.
    • Hull
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Bayside
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Bayside is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bayside
  • Suffolk County
  • Worcester County
  • Hillsborough County (NH)
  • Rockingham County (NH)
  • Providence County (RI)

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

Cemeteries Near Maynard ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Maynard.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Maynard, with the one closest to Maynard 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.<5>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Maynard had a population of 2,700 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Maynard had a population of 11,288 people.

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

  • South Acton
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • South Acton is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Acton
  • North Sudbury
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Stow
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
  • Sudbury
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • West Acton
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • West Acton is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Acton
  • East Acton
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • East Acton is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Acton
  • Acton
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Acton is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Acton
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 23,503 people
  • Boxborough
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • South Sudbury
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • South Sudbury is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Sudbury
  • Baker Bridge
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Concord
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Concord is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Concord
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 18,765 people
  • North Acton
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • North Acton is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Acton
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Hudson
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Hudson is located in Middlesex County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hudson
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 19,732 people
    • Wayland
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • South Lincoln
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • South Lincoln is located in Middlesex County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Lincoln

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

Newspapers Published in Maynard ...

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 46 newspapers that have been published in the area around Maynard.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Maynard, there are papers which were published within 12 miles [19.3 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Maynard.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These helpful 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 Maynard:

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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Maynard) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<5>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 Maynard, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.