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 Derby (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 Derby. 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 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.
Derby is located in Piscataquis 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 Piscataquis County: Aroostook, Penobscot & Somerset.
Below are the counties that are near Derby. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Derby:
- Piscataquis County (The home county of Derby)
- The following are listed by their distance from Derby, with the one closest to Derby listed first.
- Milo
(Less than 2 miles to the north)
- Milo is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milo
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,314 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Milo <1>
- Brownville
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Boyd Lake
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Boyd Lake is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boyd Lake
- Atkinson
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Atkinson is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Atkinson
- Population from the 2020 Census: 311 people
- Medford Center
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Medford Center is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Medford Center
- Adams
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- Adams is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Adams
- Medford
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- Medford is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Medford
- Population from the 2020 Census: 245 people
- Atkinson Mills
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Atkinson Mills is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Atkinson Mills
- Sebec
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- Brownville Junction
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
- Brownville Junction is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brownville Junction
- Lake View Plantation
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
- Lake View Plantation is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake View Plantation
- Population from the 2020 Census: 86 people
- South Dover
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- South Dover is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Dover
- Penobscot County
- The following are listed by their distance from Derby, with the one closest to Derby listed first.
- North Bradford
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
- North Bradford is located in Penobscot County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Bradford
- Lagrange
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
- Charleston
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Charleston is located in Penobscot County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charleston
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,675 people
- Maxfield
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
- Maxfield is located in Penobscot County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maxfield
- Population from the 2020 Census: 99 people
- Bradford
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
- South Lagrange
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
- South Lagrange is located in Penobscot County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Lagrange
- Bradford Center
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Bradford Center is located in Penobscot County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bradford Center
- Edinburg
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
- Edinburg is located in Penobscot County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edinburg
- Population from the 2020 Census: 125 people
- Howland
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
- Seboeis Plantation
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
- Seboeis Plantation is located in Penobscot County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seboeis Plantation
- Population from the 2020 Census: 34 people
- Hudson
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Hudson is located in Penobscot County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hudson
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,499 people
- Garland
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
- Garland is located in Penobscot County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garland
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,046 people
- Somerset County
- The following are listed by their distance from Derby, with the one closest to Derby listed first.
- Ripley
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
- Ripley is located in Somerset County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ripley
- Population from the 2020 Census: 479 people
- Cambridge
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
- Saint Albans
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Derby, see our County-by-County Page for Derby.
Cemeteries Near Derby ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Derby.
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 Derby - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Derby covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Derby, with the one closest to Derby listed first.
- Evergreen Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the north)
- Farnham Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
- Orneville Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Upper Ferry Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Gould Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Village Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- North Atkinson Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Schoodic Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- Sebec Corner Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Foss Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- Greenwood Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
- Medford Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Continue List (101 more) ...
- Sebec Village Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- Hart Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- Pine Tree Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
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.<2>
While we didn't find Derby in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Derby.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Derby, with the one closest to Derby listed first.
- Milo
(Less than 2 miles to the north)
- Milo is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milo
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,314 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Milo <1>
- South Sebec
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)
- South Sebec is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Sebec
- Boyd Lake
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Boyd Lake is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boyd Lake
- Brownville
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Atkinson
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Atkinson is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Atkinson
- Population from the 2020 Census: 311 people
- Lake View
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Lake View is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake View
- Medford Center
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Medford Center is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Medford Center
- Medford
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- Medford is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Medford
- Population from the 2020 Census: 245 people
- Sebec
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- North Bradford
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
- North Bradford is located in Penobscot County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Bradford
- Lagrange
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
- Brownville Junction
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
- Brownville Junction is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brownville Junction
- Continue List (17 more) ...
- East Dover
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
- East Dover is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Dover
- South Dover
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- South Dover is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Dover
- Barnard
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
- Barnard is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barnard
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Derby. See our List of 1890's Communities around Derby.
Newspapers Published in Derby ...
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 35 newspapers that have been published in the area around Derby.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Derby, there are papers which were published within 25 miles [40.2 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Derby.
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 Derby:
- Websites specific to Maine
- Pages specific to Piscataquis County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Penobscot County
- Somerset County
- 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> | 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 Derby, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <3> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Derby) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |