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 Calais (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 Calais. 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.
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 southwest 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 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 west 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.
Calais is located in Washington County.
To see how the shape of Maine's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Washington County: Aroostook, Hancock & Penobscot.
Below are the counties that are near Calais. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Calais:
- Washington County (The home county of Calais)
- The following are listed by their distance from Calais, with the one closest to Calais listed first.
- Red Beach
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
- Red Beach is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Beach
- Baring
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Baring is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baring
- Population from the 2020 Census: 239 people
- Baring has also been known as:
- Baring Plantation
- Robbinston
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
- Charlotte
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
- Charlotte is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charlotte
- Population from the 2020 Census: 320 people
- Woodland
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
- Woodland is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodland
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,141 people
- North Perry
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- North Perry is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Perry
- Meddybemps
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- Baileyville
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
- Pembroke
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- West Pembroke
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- West Pembroke is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Pembroke
- Alexander
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
- Perry
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
- Perry is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Perry
- Population from the 2020 Census: 934 people
- Lower Dennysville
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Lower Dennysville is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lower Dennysville
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Calais, see our County-by-County Page for Calais.
Cemeteries Near Calais ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Calais.
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 Calais - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Calais covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Calais, with the one closest to Calais listed first.
- Calais Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- Calais Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- Sandy Point Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Bayside United Baptist Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bayside United Baptist Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Bayside United Baptist Cemetery is located outside and to the northwest of Bayside (NB).
- The Bayside United Baptist Cemetery has also been known as:
- Bayside Baptist Cemetery
- Bayside United Baptist Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2511464 <2>
- St. Stephen Rural Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Brewer Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
- Bartletts Mills Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bartletts Mills Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Bartletts Mills Cemetery is located 3 miles [4.8 km]<3> to the southeast of Oak Bay (NB).
- The Bartletts Mills Cemetery has also been known as:
- Bartlett Family Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2246144 <2>
- Milltown Catholic Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
- Fairview Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- St. Andrew's RC Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Chapel of Ease of St. John the Baptist Church Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Oak Bay Rural Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
- Continue List (52 more) ...
- Old Ridge United Church of Canada Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
- St. Andrews Rural Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
- Waweig United Church Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
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 Calais had a population of 7,290 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Calais had a population of 3,026 people.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Calais, with the one closest to Calais listed first.
- Red Beach
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
- Red Beach is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Beach
- Milltown
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
- Milltown is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milltown
- Baring
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Baring is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baring
- Population from the 2020 Census: 239 people
- Baring has also been known as:
- Baring Plantation
- Robbinston
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
- Charlotte
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
- Charlotte is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charlotte
- Population from the 2020 Census: 320 people
- South Robbinston
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- South Robbinston is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Robbinston
- Meddybemps
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- North Perry
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- North Perry is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Perry
- Baileyville
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
- Alexander
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
- West Pembroke
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- West Pembroke is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Pembroke
- Pembroke
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Continue List (14 more) ...
- Perry
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
- Perry is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Perry
- Population from the 2020 Census: 934 people
- Crawford
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
- Crawford is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crawford
- Population from the 2020 Census: 97 people
- Cooper
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
- Cooper is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cooper
- Population from the 2020 Census: 146 people
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Calais. See our List of 1890's Communities around Calais.
Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Calais ...
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 18 newspapers that have been published in the area around Calais.
We have organized these newspapers into two lists:
- A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Calais. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Calais and those printed in the larger area surrounding Calais.
- An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 18 miles [29 km]<3> of Calais.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we begin with 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 Calais:
- Websites specific to Maine
- Pages specific to Washington County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Maine
Footnotes ...
| <1> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <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 '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- Calais) 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 Calais, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |