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 Columbia Falls (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 Columbia Falls. 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 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.
Columbia Falls 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 Columbia Falls. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Columbia Falls:
- Washington County (The home county of Columbia Falls)
- The following are listed by their distance from Columbia Falls, with the one closest to Columbia Falls listed first.
- Epping
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
- Epping is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Epping
- Addison
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
- Columbia
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
- Columbia is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Columbia
- Population from the 2020 Census: 469 people
- Centerville
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- Centerville is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centerville
- Harrington
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
- Jonesboro
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Beals
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
- Jonesport
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
- Cherryfield
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
- Whitneyville
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
- Whitneyville is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whitneyville
- Population from the 2020 Census: 206 people
- Milbridge
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
- Roque Bluffs
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
- Roque Bluffs is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roque Bluffs
- Population from the 2020 Census: 300 people
- Hancock County
- The following are listed by their distance from Columbia Falls, with the one closest to Columbia Falls listed first.
- Goodwin Siding
(18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
- Goodwin Siding is located in Hancock County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodwin Siding
- Goodwin Siding has also been known as:
- Goodwins
- Gouldsboro
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
- Corea
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
- West Gouldsboro
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
- West Gouldsboro is located in Hancock County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Gouldsboro
- Prospect Harbor
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
- Birch Harbor
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
- East Sullivan
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
- South Gouldsboro
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
- South Gouldsboro is located in Hancock County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Gouldsboro
- Winter Harbor
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
- Sullivan
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
- Sorrento
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
- Franklin
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Columbia Falls, see our County-by-County Page for Columbia Falls.
Cemeteries Near Columbia Falls ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Columbia Falls.
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 Columbia Falls - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Columbia Falls covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Columbia Falls, with the one closest to Columbia Falls listed first.
- Mailey Hill Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the west)
- Church Hill Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
- Columbia Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- Forest Hills Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
- Flat Bay Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Pleasant River Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Rock Maple Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Forest Hill Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Morse Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
- Evergreen Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
- Sewall Field Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
- West Jonesport Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
- Continue List (40 more) ...
- Greenwood Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
- Evergreen Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
- Longfellow Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
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 Columbia Falls had a population of 420 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Columbia Falls had a population of 536 people.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Columbia Falls, with the one closest to Columbia Falls listed first.
- Epping
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
- Epping is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Epping
- Columbia
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
- Columbia is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Columbia
- Population from the 2020 Census: 469 people
- Harrington
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
- West Harrington
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- West Harrington is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Harrington
- Indian River
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Indian River is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian River
- Jonesboro
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- South Addison
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
- South Addison is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Addison
- Cherryfield
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
- West Jonesport
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
- West Jonesport is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Jonesport
- Jonesport
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
- Milbridge
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
- Whitneyville
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
- Whitneyville is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whitneyville
- Population from the 2020 Census: 206 people
- Continue List (15 more) ...
- Roque Bluffs
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
- Roque Bluffs is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roque Bluffs
- Population from the 2020 Census: 300 people
- Machias
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
- East Steuben
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
- East Steuben is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Steuben
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Columbia Falls. See our List of 1890's Communities around Columbia Falls.
Newspapers Published in Columbia Falls ...
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 27 newspapers that have been published in the area around Columbia Falls.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Columbia Falls, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Columbia Falls.
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 Columbia Falls:
- 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> | 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 Columbia Falls, 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Columbia Falls) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |