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 Truro (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 Truro. 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 Truro ...
While it's still very early in our research, we found that:
- Truro was settled in 1700.
- It was incorporated in 1709.
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 hospitals and doctors 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.
Truro is located in Barnstable County.
To see how the shape of Massachusetts' counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
Below are the counties that are near Truro. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Truro:
- Barnstable County (The home county of Truro)
- The following are listed by their distance from Truro, with the one closest to Truro listed first.
- South Truro
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
- South Truro is located in Barnstable County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Truro
- North Truro
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- North Truro is located in Barnstable County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Truro
- Pond Village
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- Pond Village is located in Barnstable County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pond Village
- Wellfleet
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Wellfleet is located in Barnstable County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wellfleet
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,728 people
- South Wellfleet
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- South Wellfleet is located in Barnstable County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Wellfleet
- Provincetown
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
- Provincetown is located in Barnstable County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Provincetown
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,957 people
- North Eastham
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
- North Eastham is located in Barnstable County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Eastham
- Eastham
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Eastham is located in Barnstable County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eastham
- Population from the 2020 Census: 4,902 people
- Thumpertown Beach
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Thumpertown Beach is located in Barnstable County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thumpertown Beach
- East Orleans
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- East Orleans is located in Barnstable County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Orleans
- Orleans
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Orleans is located in Barnstable County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orleans
- Population from the 2020 Census: 5,802 people
- Brewster
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Brewster is located in Barnstable County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brewster
- Population from the 2020 Census: 9,772 people
- Plymouth County
- The following are listed by their distance from Truro, with the one closest to Truro listed first.
- White Horse Beach
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- White Horse Beach is located in Plymouth County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White Horse Beach
- Manomet
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
- Manomet is located in Plymouth County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manomet
- Brant Rock
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
- Brant Rock is located in Plymouth County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brant Rock
- Chiltonville
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
- Chiltonville is located in Plymouth County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chiltonville
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Truro, see our County-by-County Page for Truro.
Cemeteries Near Truro ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Truro.
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 Truro - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Truro covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Truro, with the one closest to Truro listed first.
- Sacred Heart Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
- Snow Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
- Hill of Churches Hills of Storms Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the north)
- Pine Grove Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the south)
- Old North Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
- Oakdale Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
- Pleasant Hill / Oakdale Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
- Mt. Pleasant Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
- Chequessett Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chequessett Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Chequessett Cemetery is located in Wellfleet.
- The Chequessett Cemetery has also been known as:
- Chequessett Neck Cemetery
- Early Meeting House Cemetery
- First Meeting House Cemetery
- Taylor Hill Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2230356 <1>
- Duck Creek Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- South Wellfleet Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
- Gifford Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
- Continue List (93 more) ...
- Hamilton Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
- Provincetown Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
- Town Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
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 Truro had a population of 342 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Truro had a population of 2,007 people.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Truro, with the one closest to Truro listed first.
- Truro Station ‑ Historic
(Less than 2 miles to the west)
- Truro Station is located in Barnstable County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Truro Station
- South Truro
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
- South Truro is located in Barnstable County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Truro
- North Truro
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- North Truro is located in Barnstable County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Truro
- Wellfleet
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Wellfleet is located in Barnstable County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wellfleet
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,728 people
- South Wellfleet
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- South Wellfleet is located in Barnstable County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Wellfleet
- Provincetown
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
- Provincetown is located in Barnstable County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Provincetown
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,957 people
- North Eastham
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
- North Eastham is located in Barnstable County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Eastham
- Eastham
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Eastham is located in Barnstable County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eastham
- Population from the 2020 Census: 4,902 people
- Orleans
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Orleans is located in Barnstable County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orleans
- Population from the 2020 Census: 5,802 people
- East Orleans
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- East Orleans is located in Barnstable County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Orleans
- East Brewster
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
- East Brewster is located in Barnstable County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Brewster
- Brewster
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Brewster is located in Barnstable County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brewster
- Population from the 2020 Census: 9,772 people
- Continue List (18 more) ...
- West Brewster
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
- West Brewster is located in Barnstable County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Brewster
- South Brewster
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
- South Brewster is located in Barnstable County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Brewster
- South Orleans
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
- South Orleans is located in Barnstable County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Orleans
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Truro. See our List of 1890's Communities around Truro.
Newspapers Published in Truro ...
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 29 newspapers that have been published in the area around Truro.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Truro, there are papers which were published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Truro.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 Truro:
- Websites specific to Massachusetts
- Pages specific to Barnstable County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Massachusetts
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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. |
| <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> | 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 Truro, 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Truro) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |