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Home >> State of Massachusetts >> Dukes County >> Oak Bluffs >> 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 Oak Bluffs (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 Oak Bluffs. 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 Oak Bluffs ...

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 Oak Bluffs: Oak Blfs.

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.

A Few Details for Oak Bluffs ...

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

  • Oak Bluffs was settled in 1642.
  • It was incorporated in 1880.

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 southwest 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 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 west 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.

Oak Bluffs is located in Dukes 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 Dukes County: Barnstable, Bristol, Nantucket & Plymouth.

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

  • Dukes County     (The home county of Oak Bluffs)
  • Barnstable County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oak Bluffs, with the one closest to Oak Bluffs listed first.
    • Acapesket
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Falmouth
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Teaticket
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Teaticket is located in Barnstable County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Teaticket
    • Woods Hole
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • East Falmouth
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Monomoscoy Island
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
      • Monomoscoy Island is located in Barnstable County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monomoscoy Island
    • Seconsett Island
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
      • Seconsett Island is located in Barnstable County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seconsett Island
    • Maushop Village
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Maushop Village is located in Barnstable County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maushop Village
    • Seabrook
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • Seabrook is located in Barnstable County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seabrook
    • New Seabury
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • New Seabury is located in Barnstable County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Seabury
    • Popponesset
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Popponesset is located in Barnstable County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Popponesset
    • West Falmouth
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
      • West Falmouth is located in Barnstable County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Falmouth
    • Popponesset Island
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Popponesset Island is located in Barnstable County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Popponesset Island
  • Bristol County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oak Bluffs, with the one closest to Oak Bluffs listed first.
    • Nonquitt
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Fairhaven
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Fairhaven is located in Bristol County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairhaven
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 16,103 people
    • South Dartmouth
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • South Dartmouth is located in Bristol County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Dartmouth
    • Apponagansett
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Bliss Corner
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Bliss Corner is located in Bristol County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bliss Corner
    • New Bedford
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Acushnet Center
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Acushnet
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Acushnet is located in Bristol County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Acushnet
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 10,673 people
    • Acushnet Station ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Acushnet Station is located in Bristol County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Acushnet Station
    • Dartmouth
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Dartmouth is located in Bristol County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dartmouth
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 33,926 people
    • North Dartmouth
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • North Dartmouth is located in Bristol County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Dartmouth
    • Long Plain
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Smith Mills
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Smith Mills is located in Bristol County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smith Mills
  • Nantucket County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oak Bluffs, with the one closest to Oak Bluffs listed first.
    • Nantucket
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Pocomo
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
  • Plymouth County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oak Bluffs, with the one closest to Oak Bluffs listed first.
    • Marion
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Mattapoisett
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Mattapoisett is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mattapoisett
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,427 people
    • Onset
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • East Wareham
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • East Wareham is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Wareham
    • Onset Station
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Briarwood Beach
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Weweantic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Weweantic is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weweantic
    • Wareham
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Wareham is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wareham
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 22,778 people
    • Wareham Center
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Wareham Center is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wareham Center
    • Rochester
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • White Island Shores
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • White Island Shores is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White Island Shores
    • West Wareham
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • West Wareham is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Wareham
    • Cranberry Village
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Cranberry Village is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cranberry Village
  • Newport County (RI)

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

Cemeteries Near Oak Bluffs ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Oak Bluffs.

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 Oak Bluffs - one of the links might be able to help.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Oak Bluffs, with the one closest to Oak Bluffs 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 in 1895, Oak Bluffs had railroad service and no post office. In 2020, Oak Bluffs had a population of 4,696 people.

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

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

Newspapers Published in Oak Bluffs ...

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 35 newspapers that have been published in the area around Oak Bluffs.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Oak Bluffs, there are papers which were published within 21 miles [33.8 km]<1>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Oak Bluffs.

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 Oak Bluffs:

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Oak Bluffs) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Oak Bluffs, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.