RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Massachusetts >> Dukes County >> West Tisbury >> 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 West Tisbury (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 West Tisbury. 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 West Tisbury ...

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 West Tisbury: W. Tisbury

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 West Tisbury ...

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

  • West Tisbury was settled in 1669.
  • It was incorporated in 1892.

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 northeast 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 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 east 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.

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

  • Dukes County     (The home county of West Tisbury)
  • Barnstable County
    • The following are listed by their distance from West Tisbury, with the one closest to West Tisbury listed first.
    • Woods Hole
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Falmouth
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Acapesket
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Teaticket
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Teaticket is located in Barnstable County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Teaticket
    • East Falmouth
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • West Falmouth
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • West Falmouth is located in Barnstable County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Falmouth
    • Monomoscoy Island
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Monomoscoy Island is located in Barnstable County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monomoscoy Island
    • Seconsett Island
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Seconsett Island is located in Barnstable County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seconsett Island
    • Maushop Village
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Maushop Village is located in Barnstable County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maushop Village
    • New Seabury
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • New Seabury is located in Barnstable County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Seabury
    • Seabrook
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Seabrook is located in Barnstable County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seabrook
    • Popponesset Island
      (17 miles [27.4 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 West Tisbury, with the one closest to West Tisbury listed first.
    • Nonquitt
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • 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
    • South Dartmouth
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • South Dartmouth is located in Bristol County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Dartmouth
    • Apponagansett
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • 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
    • 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
    • New Bedford
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Westport Point
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Westport Point is located in Bristol County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westport Point
    • 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
    • Gidleys Corner
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • North Dartmouth
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • North Dartmouth is located in Bristol County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Dartmouth
    • Acoaxet
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
  • Nantucket County
  • Plymouth County
    • The following are listed by their distance from West Tisbury, with the one closest to West Tisbury listed first.
    • Mattapoisett
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Mattapoisett is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mattapoisett
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,427 people
    • Marion
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Briarwood Beach
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Weweantic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Weweantic is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weweantic
    • Onset Station
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Onset
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Rochester
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • East Wareham
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • East Wareham is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Wareham
    • Wareham Center
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Wareham Center is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wareham Center
    • Wareham
      (26 miles [41.8 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
    • West Wareham
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • West Wareham is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Wareham
    • White Island Shores
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • White Island Shores is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White Island Shores
  • Newport County (RI)

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

Cemeteries Near West Tisbury ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of West Tisbury.

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 West Tisbury - one of the links might be able to help.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from West Tisbury, with the one closest to West Tisbury 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 West Tisbury had a population of 440 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, West Tisbury had a population of 2,927 people.

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

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

Newspapers Published in West Tisbury ...

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 89 newspapers that have been published in the area around West Tisbury.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of West Tisbury, there are papers which were published within 22 miles [35.4 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for West Tisbury.

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 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 West Tisbury:

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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- West Tisbury) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 West Tisbury, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.