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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 Vineyard Haven (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 Vineyard Haven. 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 Vineyard Haven ...

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 Vineyard Haven: Vineyard Hvn. (or less commonly used: Vineyard Havn.)

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 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.

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

  • Dukes County     (The home county of Vineyard Haven)
  • Barnstable County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Vineyard Haven, with the one closest to Vineyard Haven listed first.
    • Acapesket
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Falmouth
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Woods Hole
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Teaticket
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Teaticket is located in Barnstable County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Teaticket
    • East Falmouth
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Monomoscoy Island
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Monomoscoy Island is located in Barnstable County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monomoscoy Island
    • Seconsett Island
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Seconsett Island is located in Barnstable County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seconsett Island
    • 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
    • Maushop Village
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Maushop Village is located in Barnstable County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maushop Village
    • New Seabury
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
      • New Seabury is located in Barnstable County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Seabury
    • Popponesset
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Popponesset is located in Barnstable County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Popponesset
    • Seabrook
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Seabrook is located in Barnstable County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seabrook
    • Popponesset Island
      (11 miles [17.7 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 Vineyard Haven, with the one closest to Vineyard Haven listed first.
    • Nonquitt
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • South Dartmouth
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • South Dartmouth is located in Bristol County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Dartmouth
    • Bliss Corner
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Bliss Corner is located in Bristol County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bliss Corner
    • Fairhaven
      (20 miles [32.2 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
    • Apponagansett
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • New Bedford
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Acushnet Center
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Acushnet
      (22 miles [35.4 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
    • Dartmouth
      (22 miles [35.4 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
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • North Dartmouth is located in Bristol County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Dartmouth
    • Acushnet Station ‑ Historic
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Acushnet Station is located in Bristol County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Acushnet Station
    • Smith Mills
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Smith Mills is located in Bristol County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smith Mills
    • Gidleys Corner
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
  • Nantucket County
  • Plymouth County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Vineyard Haven, with the one closest to Vineyard Haven listed first.
    • Mattapoisett
      (17 miles [27.4 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
    • Marion
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Briarwood Beach
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Onset
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Weweantic
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Weweantic is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weweantic
    • 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)
    • Wareham Center
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Wareham Center is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wareham Center
    • 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
    • Rochester
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • White Island Shores
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • White Island Shores is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White Island Shores
    • West Wareham
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • West Wareham is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Wareham
    • Pine Tree Village
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Pine Tree Village is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Tree Village
  • Newport County (RI)

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

Cemeteries Near Vineyard Haven ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Vineyard Haven.

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 Vineyard Haven - one of the links might be able to help.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Vineyard Haven, with the one closest to Vineyard Haven 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 Vineyard Haven had a population of 800 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Vineyard Haven ...

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 102 newspapers that have been published in the area around Vineyard Haven.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Vineyard Haven. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Vineyard Haven and those printed in the larger area surrounding Vineyard Haven.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 21 miles [33.8 km]<1> of Vineyard Haven.

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 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 Vineyard Haven:

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Vineyard Haven) 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 Vineyard Haven, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.