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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 Onset Station (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 Onset Station. 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 Onset Station ...

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 Onset Station: Onset Sta. (in Canada, 'Stn.' is the more common abbreviation.)

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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals 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.

Onset Station 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 Onset Station. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Onset Station:

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

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

Cemeteries Near Onset Station ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Onset Station.

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 Onset Station - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Onset Station had railroad service and no post office.

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

  • East Wareham
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • East Wareham is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Wareham
  • Onset
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
  • Wareham
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Wareham is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wareham
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 22,778 people
  • Buzzards Bay
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Buzzards Bay is located in Barnstable County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buzzards Bay
  • South Wareham
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • South Wareham is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Wareham
  • Monument Beach
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Monument Beach is located in Barnstable County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monument Beach
  • Bourne
    (4 miles [6.4 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
  • West Wareham
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • West Wareham is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Wareham
  • Marion
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Pocasset
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Tremont
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Tremont is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tremont
  • Cataumet
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Cataumet is located in Barnstable County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cataumet
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in Onset Station ...

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 40 newspapers that have been published in the area around Onset Station.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Onset Station, 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 Onset Station.

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 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 Onset Station:

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 Onset Station, 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Onset Station) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.