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The Commemorative Quarter for Massachusetts





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 Plainfield (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 Plainfield. 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.

Cemeteries Near Plainfield ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Plainfield.

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.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Plainfield, with the one closest to Plainfield listed first.

  • Polpis Burying Ground
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Polpis Burying Ground
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Polpis Burying Ground have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • New Town Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the New Town Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the New Town Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • The New Town Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Newtown Cemetery
  • Old North Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old North Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old North Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Old Town Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old Town Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old Town Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Friends Burying Ground
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Friends Burying Ground
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Friends Burying Ground have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Prospect Hill Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • African Baptist Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the African Baptist Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the African Baptist Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Mary's RC Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • New Town Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Old Settlers Graves
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old Settlers Graves
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old Settlers Graves have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Seamens Cemetery
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
  • Chief Squanto Memorial Marker
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Chief Squanto Memorial Marker
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Chief Squanto Memorial Marker. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Chief Squanto Memorial Marker is located in Chatham.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2165355 <2>
  • Continue List   (33 more) ...

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>

While we didn't find Plainfield in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Plainfield.

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

  • Siasconset
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Siasconset have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Siasconset
    • Siasconset is located in Nantucket County
  • Nantucket
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nantucket
    • Nantucket is located in Nantucket County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 11,376 people
  • Harwich Port
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harwich Port
    • Harwich Port is located in Barnstable County
  • West Harwich
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Harwich have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Harwich
    • West Harwich is located in Barnstable County
  • Dennis Port
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dennis Port have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dennis Port
    • Dennis Port is located in Barnstable County
  • West Chatham
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Chatham have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Chatham
    • West Chatham is located in Barnstable County
  • Chatham
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chatham have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chatham
    • Chatham is located in Barnstable County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,994 people
  • South Chatham
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Chatham have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Chatham
    • South Chatham is located in Barnstable County
  • South Harwich
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Harwich have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Harwich
    • South Harwich is located in Barnstable County
  • Harwich
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Harwich have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harwich
    • Harwich is located in Barnstable County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 12,144 people
  • West Dennis
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Dennis have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Dennis
    • West Dennis is located in Barnstable County
  • South Yarmouth
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Yarmouth have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Yarmouth
    • South Yarmouth is located in Barnstable County
  • Continue List   (9 more) ...
    • West Yarmouth
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Yarmouth
      • West Yarmouth is located in Barnstable County
    • North Chatham
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Chatham
      • North Chatham is located in Barnstable County
    • East Harwich
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Harwich have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Harwich
      • East Harwich is located in Barnstable County

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

Newspapers Published in Plainfield ...

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 34 newspapers that have been published in the area around Plainfield.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Plainfield, there are papers which were published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Plainfield.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These 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 Plainfield:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Plainfield. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for State of Massachusetts: https://www.mass.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<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>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<4>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.

<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 Plainfield, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>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 from Point A (ie- Plainfield) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Plainfield. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.2835, Longitude: -69.9786       In this case, the coordinates for Plainfield have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025