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 Rockwood (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 Rockwood. 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.
Rockwood is located in Somerset 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 Somerset County: Franklin, Kennebec, Penobscot, Piscataquis & Waldo.
Below are the counties that are near Rockwood. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Rockwood:
- Somerset County (The home county of Rockwood)
- The following are listed by their distance from Rockwood, with the one closest to Rockwood listed first.
- Somerset Junction
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Somerset Junction is located in Somerset County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Somerset Junction
- Mackamp
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
- Mackamp is located in Somerset County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mackamp
- Long Pond
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
- Long Pond is located in Somerset County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Pond
- West Forks Plantation
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
- West Forks Plantation is located in Somerset County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Forks Plantation
- Population from the 2020 Census: 58 people
- West Forks
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
- The Forks
(25 miles [40.2 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>
- Jackman
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
- Moose River
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
- Moose River is located in Somerset County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moose River
- Population from the 2020 Census: 207 people
- Dennistown Plantation
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
- Dennistown Plantation is located in Somerset County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dennistown Plantation
- Population from the 2020 Census: 31 people
- Piscataquis County
- The following are listed by their distance from Rockwood, with the one closest to Rockwood listed first.
- Moosehead
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Moosehead is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moosehead
- Lily Bay
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
- Lily Bay is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lily Bay
- Beaver Cove
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
- Beaver Cove is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beaver Cove
- Population from the 2020 Census: 117 people
- Kokadjo
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
- Kokadjo is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kokadjo
- North East Carry
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- North East Carry is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North East Carry
- Greenville Junction
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
- Greenville
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
- Shirley Mills
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
- Shirley Mills is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shirley Mills
- Upper Shirley Corner
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
- Upper Shirley Corner is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Upper Shirley Corner
- Lower Shirley Corner
(23 miles [37 km] to the south)
- Lower Shirley Corner is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lower Shirley Corner
- Shirley
(23 miles [37 km] to the south)
- Shirley is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shirley
- Population from the 2020 Census: 229 people
- Monson
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Rockwood, see our County-by-County Page for Rockwood.
Cemeteries Near Rockwood ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Rockwood.
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 Rockwood - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Rockwood covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Rockwood, with the one closest to Rockwood listed first.
- St. Josephs Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
- St. Josephs Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
- Greenville Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
- Shirley Mills Cemetery
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
- Lake Road Cemetery
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
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 Rockwood in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Rockwood.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Rockwood, with the one closest to Rockwood listed first.
- Moosehead
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Moosehead is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moosehead
- Lily Bay
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
- Lily Bay is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lily Bay
- Mackamp
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
- Mackamp is located in Somerset County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mackamp
- North East Carry
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- North East Carry is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North East Carry
- Greenville Junction
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
- Greenville
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
- Long Pond
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
- Long Pond is located in Somerset County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Pond
- Shirley Mills
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
- Shirley Mills is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shirley Mills
- Shirley
(23 miles [37 km] to the south)
- Shirley is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shirley
- Population from the 2020 Census: 229 people
- West Forks
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
- The Forks
(25 miles [40.2 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>
- Moose River
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
- Moose River is located in Somerset County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moose River
- Population from the 2020 Census: 207 people
- Continue List (4 more) ...
- Jackman
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
- Onawa
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
- Onawa is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Onawa
- Blanchard
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
- Blanchard is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blanchard
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Rockwood. See our List of 1890's Communities around Rockwood.
Newspapers Published in Rockwood ...
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 Rockwood.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Rockwood, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Rockwood.
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 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 Rockwood:
- Websites specific to Maine
- Pages specific to Somerset 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 Rockwood, 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Rockwood) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |