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 The Highlands (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 The Highlands. 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 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.
The Highlands 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 The Highlands. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to The Highlands:
- Piscataquis County (The home county of The Highlands)
- The following are listed by their distance from The Highlands, with the one closest to The Highlands listed first.
- Greenville
(Less than 2 miles to the south)
- Greenville Junction
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
- Beaver Cove
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- Beaver Cove is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beaver Cove
- Population from the 2020 Census: 117 people
- Upper Shirley Corner
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
- Upper Shirley Corner is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Upper Shirley Corner
- Lily Bay
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
- Lily Bay is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lily Bay
- Lower Shirley Corner
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
- Lower Shirley Corner is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lower Shirley Corner
- Shirley Mills
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
- Shirley Mills is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shirley Mills
- Moosehead
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
- Moosehead is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moosehead
- Shirley
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
- Shirley is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shirley
- Population from the 2020 Census: 229 people
- Kokadjo
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
- Kokadjo is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kokadjo
- Monson
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Willimantic
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
- Willimantic is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willimantic
- Population from the 2020 Census: 143 people
- Monson Junction
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- Monson Junction is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monson Junction
- Somerset County
- The following are listed by their distance from The Highlands, with the one closest to The Highlands listed first.
- Somerset Junction
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
- Somerset Junction is located in Somerset County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Somerset Junction
- Rockwood
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
- The Forks
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
- The Forks is located in Somerset County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for The Forks
- Population from the 2020 Census: 35 people
- The Forks has also been known as:
- The Forks Plantation
- Plantation of The Forks
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for The Forks <1>
- West Forks Plantation
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
- West Forks Plantation is located in Somerset County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Forks Plantation
- Population from the 2020 Census: 58 people
- Mackamp
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
- Mackamp is located in Somerset County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mackamp
- West Forks
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
- Mayfield Corner
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
- Mayfield Corner is located in Somerset County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayfield Corner
- Caratunk
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
- Long Pond
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- Long Pond is located in Somerset County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Pond
- Brighton
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
- Brighton is located in Somerset County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brighton
- Population from the 2020 Census: 67 people
- Brighton has also been known as:
- Brighton Plantation
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to The Highlands, see our County-by-County Page for The Highlands.
Cemeteries Near The Highlands ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of The Highlands.
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 The Highlands - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for The Highlands covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from The Highlands, with the one closest to The Highlands listed first.
- Greenville Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the south)
- Shirley Mills Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
- Lake Road Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
- Hillside Cemetery
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Monson Cemetery
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Riverside Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
- St. Josephs Cemetery
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
- St. Josephs Cemetery
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
- Abbot Village Cemetery
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
- Lawn Cemetery
(23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
- Elmwood Cemetery
(23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
- Guilford Cemetery
(23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
- Continue List (16 more) ...
- Bowerbank Cemetery
(23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
- Village Cemetery
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
- Parkman Corner Cemetery
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
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 The Highlands in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of The Highlands.
These communities are listed based on their distance from The Highlands, with the one closest to The Highlands listed first.
- Greenville
(Less than 2 miles to the south)
- Greenville Junction
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
- Shirley Mills
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
- Shirley Mills is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shirley Mills
- Lily Bay
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
- Lily Bay is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lily Bay
- Shirley
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
- Shirley is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shirley
- Population from the 2020 Census: 229 people
- Moosehead
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
- Moosehead is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moosehead
- Onawa
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
- Onawa is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Onawa
- Blanchard
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Blanchard is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blanchard
- Monson
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Willimantic
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
- Willimantic is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willimantic
- Population from the 2020 Census: 143 people
- North Guilford
(18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
- North Guilford is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Guilford
- Monson Junction
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- Monson Junction is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monson Junction
- Continue List (13 more) ...
- The Forks
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
- The Forks is located in Somerset County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for The Forks
- Population from the 2020 Census: 35 people
- The Forks has also been known as:
- The Forks Plantation
- Plantation of The Forks
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for The Forks <1>
- Abbot
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
- West Forks
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around The Highlands. See our List of 1890's Communities around The Highlands.
Newspapers Published in The Highlands ...
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 10 newspapers that have been published in the area around The Highlands.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of The Highlands, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for The Highlands.
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 The Highlands:
- Websites specific to Maine
- Pages specific to Piscataquis 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> | 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 The Highlands, 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 drawn from Point A (ie- The Highlands) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |