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 Shirley (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 Shirley. 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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.
Shirley 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 Shirley. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Shirley:
- Piscataquis County (The home county of Shirley)
- The following are listed by their distance from Shirley, with the one closest to Shirley listed first.
- Shirley Mills
(Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
- Shirley Mills is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shirley Mills
- Lower Shirley Corner
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
- Lower Shirley Corner is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lower Shirley Corner
- Upper Shirley Corner
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
- Upper Shirley Corner is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Upper Shirley Corner
- Greenville Junction
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
- Greenville
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
- Monson
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Willimantic
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
- Willimantic is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willimantic
- Population from the 2020 Census: 143 people
- Monson Junction
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
- Monson Junction is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monson Junction
- Kingsbury Plantation
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
- Kingsbury Plantation is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingsbury Plantation
- Population from the 2020 Census: 27 people
- Beaver Cove
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- Beaver Cove is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beaver Cove
- Population from the 2020 Census: 117 people
- Abbot
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
- Kingsbury
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
- Kingsbury is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingsbury
- Moosehead
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
- Moosehead is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moosehead
- Penobscot County
- The following are listed by their distance from Shirley, with the one closest to Shirley listed first.
- Silvers Mills
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
- Silvers Mills is located in Penobscot County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silvers Mills
- Dexter
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
- Russell Corner
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
- Russell Corner is located in Penobscot County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Russell Corner
- Somerset County
- The following are listed by their distance from Shirley, with the one closest to Shirley listed first.
- The Forks
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
- 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>
- Mayfield Corner
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
- Mayfield Corner is located in Somerset County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayfield Corner
- Somerset Junction
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
- Somerset Junction is located in Somerset County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Somerset Junction
- Caratunk
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
- West Forks Plantation
(19 miles [30.6 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
- West Forks
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
- Brighton
(21 miles [33.8 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
- Moscow
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
- Rockwood
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
- Cambridge
(23 miles [37 km] to the south)
- Bingham
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
- Pleasant Ridge Plantation
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
- Pleasant Ridge Plantation is located in Somerset County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Ridge Plantation
- Population from the 2020 Census: 89 people
- Harmony
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Shirley, see our County-by-County Page for Shirley.
Cemeteries Near Shirley ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Shirley.
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 Shirley - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Shirley covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Shirley, with the one closest to Shirley listed first.
- Shirley Mills Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the north)
- Lake Road Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Greenville Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
- Hillside Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
- Monson Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
- Riverside Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
- Abbot Village Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
- Foss Hill Cemetery
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Lawn Cemetery
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
- Parkman Corner Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
- Elmwood Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
- Guilford Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
- Continue List (42 more) ...
- Pingree Cemetery
(18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
- Village Cemetery
(18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
- Taylor Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 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>
The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Shirley had railroad service and no post office. In 2020, Shirley had a population of 229 people.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Shirley, with the one closest to Shirley listed first.
- Shirley Mills
(Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
- Shirley Mills is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shirley Mills
- Blanchard
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Blanchard is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blanchard
- Monson
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Greenville
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
- Greenville Junction
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
- Willimantic
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
- Willimantic is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willimantic
- Population from the 2020 Census: 143 people
- Monson Junction
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
- Monson Junction is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monson Junction
- North Guilford
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
- North Guilford is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Guilford
- Onawa
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
- Onawa is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Onawa
- Abbot
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
- Kingsbury
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
- Kingsbury is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingsbury
- Moosehead
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
- Moosehead is located in Piscataquis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moosehead
- Continue List (15 more) ...
- The Forks
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
- 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>
- Parkman
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
- Guilford
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Shirley. See our List of 1890's Communities around Shirley.
Newspapers Published in Shirley ...
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 25 newspapers that have been published in the area around Shirley.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Shirley, 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 Shirley.
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 Shirley:
- 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 Shirley, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <3> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Shirley) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |