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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 Nahant (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 Nahant. 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 Nahant ...

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

  • Nahant was settled in 1630.
  • It was incorporated in 1853.

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.

Nahant is located in Essex 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 Essex County: Middlesex, Suffolk & Rockingham (NH).

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

  • Essex County     (The home county of Nahant)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Nahant, with the one closest to Nahant listed first.
    • East Lynn
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Swampscott
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Lynn
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Clifton
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • West Lynn
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Cliftondale
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Pleasant Hills
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Pleasant Hills is located in Essex County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Hills
    • Saugus
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Peabody
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Salem
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • West Town Landing
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • West Town Landing is located in Essex County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Town Landing
    • Marblehead
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Marblehead is located in Essex County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marblehead
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 20,551 people
    • Beverly
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Bristol County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Nahant, with the one closest to Nahant listed first.
    • North Easton
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • North Easton is located in Bristol County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Easton
    • South Easton
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • South Easton is located in Bristol County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Easton
    • Easton Center
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Easton
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Easton is located in Bristol County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Easton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 25,116 people
    • Furnace Village
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Furnace Village is located in Bristol County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Furnace Village
    • East Mansfield
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Middlesex County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Nahant, with the one closest to Nahant listed first.
    • Everett
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Malden
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Melrose
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Wyoming
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Edgeworth
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Edgeworth is located in Middlesex County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edgeworth
    • Wellington
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Montrose
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Wakefield
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Medford
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Somerville
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Stoneham
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Cambridgeport
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Cambridgeport is located in Middlesex County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cambridgeport
    • Cambridge
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Norfolk County
  • Plymouth County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Nahant, with the one closest to Nahant listed first.
    • Bayside
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
      • Bayside is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bayside
    • Hull
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Kenberma
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Kenberma is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kenberma
    • Hingham
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • West Hingham
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
      • West Hingham is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Hingham
    • Minot
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Minot is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minot
    • North Scituate
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • North Scituate is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Scituate
    • Accord
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Scituate
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Scituate is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scituate
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 19,047 people
    • Norwell
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Greenbush
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Greenbush is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenbush
    • North Abington
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • North Marshfield
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • North Marshfield is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Marshfield
  • Suffolk County
  • Hillsborough County (NH)
    • Pelham
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Pelham is located in Hillsborough County (NH)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pelham
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 14,306 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Pelham <1>
  • Rockingham County (NH)

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

Cemeteries Near Nahant ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Nahant.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Nahant, with the one closest to Nahant 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 Nahant had a population of 756 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Nahant had a population of 3,506 people.

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

  • Crescent Beach
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Crescent Beach is located in Suffolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crescent Beach
  • Lynn
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Swampscott
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • East Lynn
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Oak Island
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Oak Island is located in Suffolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Island
  • Revere
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Beachmont
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Beachmont is located in Suffolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beachmont
  • Winthrop
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Winthrop Beach
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Winthrop Beach is located in Suffolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winthrop Beach
  • Clifton
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Beach Bluff
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Beach Bluff is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beach Bluff
  • West Lynn
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (23 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in Nahant ...

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 87 newspapers that have been published in the area around Nahant.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Nahant, there are papers which were published within 11 miles [17.7 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Nahant.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we 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 Nahant:

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 Nahant, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<5>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 from Point A (ie- Nahant) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.