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 Mars Hill (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 Mars Hill. 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 Mars Hill ...
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.
While the name of this community is Mars Hill, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Mars Hill may originally have been Mar's Hill.
Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Mars Hill might be written as Mar Hill.
You might be interested in other communities that are also named Mars Hill. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Mars Hill.
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 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.
Mars Hill is located in Aroostook 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 Aroostook County: Penobscot, Piscataquis, Somerset & Washington.
Below are the counties that are near Mars Hill. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Mars Hill:
- Aroostook County (The home county of Mars Hill)
- The following are listed by their distance from Mars Hill, with the one closest to Mars Hill listed first.
- Blaine
(Less than 2 miles to the south)
- Kings Grove
(Less than 2 miles to the north)
- Kings Grove is located in Aroostook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kings Grove
- Westfield
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
- Westfield is located in Aroostook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westfield
- Population from the 2020 Census: 505 people
- Bridgewater
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Easton
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
- Easton is located in Aroostook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Easton
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,177 people
- Presque Isle
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
- Monticello
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Chapman
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
- Chapman is located in Aroostook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chapman
- Population from the 2020 Census: 450 people
- Fort Fairfield
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
- Mapleton
(18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
- Walker
(18 miles [29 km] to the west)
- Walker is located in Aroostook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walker
- Crouseville
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
- Crouseville is located in Aroostook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crouseville
- Hammond
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- Hammond is located in Aroostook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hammond
- Population from the 2020 Census: 109 people
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Mars Hill, see our County-by-County Page for Mars Hill.
Cemeteries Near Mars Hill ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Mars Hill.
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 Mars Hill - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Mars Hill covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Mars Hill, with the one closest to Mars Hill listed first.
- Snow Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the west)
- Tapley Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the south)
- Kings Grove Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
- Kings Hill Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
- Sanborn Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
- East Blaine Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
- Pierce Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
- Bridgewater Corner Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Boundary Line Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Marshall Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Getchell Farnham Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
- Smith Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
- Continue List (140 more) ...
- Tracey Mills Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Summerfield Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- St. Bartholomew Catholic Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 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 Mars Hill had a population of 130 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Mars Hill had a population of 1,461 people.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Mars Hill, with the one closest to Mars Hill listed first.
- Blaine
(Less than 2 miles to the south)
- Westfield
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
- Westfield is located in Aroostook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westfield
- Population from the 2020 Census: 505 people
- Bridgewater
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Easton
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
- Easton is located in Aroostook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Easton
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,177 people
- Presque Isle
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
- Monticello
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Maple Grove
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- Maple Grove is located in Aroostook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Grove
- Parkhurst
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
- Parkhurst is located in Aroostook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parkhurst
- Fort Fairfield
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
- Mapleton
(18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
- Roberts
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
- Roberts is located in Aroostook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roberts
- Littleton
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- Littleton is located in Aroostook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Littleton
- Population from the 2020 Census: 982 people
- Continue List (13 more) ...
- Castle Hill
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Castle Hill is located in Aroostook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Castle Hill
- Population from the 2020 Census: 390 people
- East Lyndon
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
- East Lyndon is located in Aroostook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Lyndon
- Hurd
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
- Hurd is located in Aroostook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hurd
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Mars Hill. See our List of 1890's Communities around Mars Hill.
Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Mars Hill ...
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 17 newspapers that have been published in the area around Mars Hill.
We have organized these newspapers into two lists:
- A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Mars Hill. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Mars Hill and those printed in the larger area surrounding Mars Hill.
- An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 17 miles [27.4 km]<5> of Mars Hill.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we 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 Mars Hill:
- Websites specific to Maine
- Pages specific to Aroostook County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Maine
Footnotes ...
| <1> | It's generally believed that possessive apostrophes are removed to prevent confusion on maps where the apostrophe may be confused with a cartographic symbol. While this is generally true, it's not uncommon to find possessive apostrophes in administrative names (such as towns or counties). |
| <2> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <3> | 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. |
| <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 Mars Hill, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <5> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Mars Hill) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |