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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 Fort Kent (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 Fort Kent. 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 Fort Kent ...

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.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might have occurred.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Fort Kent: Ft. Kent

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 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.

Fort Kent is located in Aroostook County.

To see how the shape of Maine's counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Aroostook County: Penobscot, Piscataquis, Somerset & Washington.

Below are the counties that are near Fort Kent. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Fort Kent:

  • Aroostook County     (The home county of Fort Kent)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fort Kent, with the one closest to Fort Kent listed first.
    • Fort Kent Mills
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fort Kent Mills have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Kent Mills
      • Fort Kent Mills is located in Aroostook County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fort Kent Mills <2>
    • Fort Kent Village
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fort Kent Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Kent Village
      • Fort Kent Village is located in Aroostook County
    • Soldier Pond
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Wallagrass
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wallagrass have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wallagrass
      • Wallagrass is located in Aroostook County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 520 people
    • Frenchville
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Frenchville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frenchville
      • Frenchville is located in Aroostook County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,031 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Frenchville <2>
    • New Canada
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for New Canada have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Canada
      • New Canada is located in Aroostook County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 304 people
    • Saint John Plantation
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint John Plantation have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint John Plantation
      • Saint John Plantation is located in Aroostook County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 248 people
    • Saint Agatha
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Madawaska
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Madawaska have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Madawaska
      • Madawaska is located in Aroostook County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,715 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Madawaska <2>
    • Eagle Lake
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Eagle Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagle Lake
      • Eagle Lake is located in Aroostook County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 796 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Eagle Lake <2>
    • Saint Francis
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint Francis have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Francis
      • Saint Francis is located in Aroostook County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 439 people
    • Sinclair
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sinclair have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sinclair
      • Sinclair is located in Aroostook County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sinclair <2>

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Fort Kent ...

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 2 newspapers that have been published in the area around Fort Kent.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Fort Kent. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Fort Kent and those printed in the larger area surrounding Fort Kent.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 14 miles [22.5 km]<3> of Fort Kent.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These professional and volunteer 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 Fort Kent:

  • Genealogy information for nearby counties

Cemeteries Near Fort Kent ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Fort Kent.

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.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Fort Kent, with the one closest to Fort Kent listed first.

  • St. Louis Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Louis Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Louis Cemetery
  • St. Louis Catholic Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the St. Louis Catholic Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located in Fort Kent.
    • The St. Louis Catholic Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Old St. Louis Cemetery
    • St. Louis Cemetery Old
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Louis Catholic Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2393985 <4>
  • Congregational Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Congregational Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Congregational Cemetery
  • Baker Brook Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Sacred Heart Catholic Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • St. Josephs Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Josephs Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Josephs Cemetery
  • Holy Family Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Holy Family Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Holy Family Cemetery
  • St. Luce Catholic Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • St. Hilaire Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • The St. Hilaire Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Cimetiere St. Hilaire
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Hilaire Cemetery
  • St. John Catholic Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. John Catholic Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. John Catholic Cemetery
  • St. Joseph Catholic Church Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • St. Josephs the Helper Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Josephs the Helper Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Josephs the Helper Cemetery
  • Continue List   (28 more) ...
    • St. John Baptist Church Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. John Baptist Church Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. John Baptist Church Cemetery
    • St. Agatha Catholic Church Cemetery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • St. Agatha Lower Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 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.<5>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Fort Kent had a population of 250 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Fort Kent had a population of 3,805 people.

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

  • Upper Frenchville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Upper Frenchville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Upper Frenchville
    • Upper Frenchville is located in Aroostook County
  • Wallagrass
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wallagrass have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wallagrass
    • Wallagrass is located in Aroostook County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 520 people
  • Frenchville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Frenchville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frenchville
    • Frenchville is located in Aroostook County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,031 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Frenchville <2>
  • Saint Francis
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint Francis have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Francis
    • Saint Francis is located in Aroostook County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 439 people
  • Eagle Lake
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Eagle Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagle Lake
    • Eagle Lake is located in Aroostook County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 796 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Eagle Lake <2>
  • Saint David
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint David have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint David
    • Saint David is located in Aroostook County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Saint David <2>
  • Jemtland
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Jemtland have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jemtland
    • Jemtland is located in Aroostook County

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

The official website for Fort Kent: www.fortkent.org/

The official website for Aroostook County: www.aroostook.me.us/

The official website for State of Maine: https://www.maine.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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- Fort Kent) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Fort Kent. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.2586, Longitude: -68.5897    
<4>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.
<5>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 Fort Kent, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 10 Mar 2024