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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 Somesville (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 Somesville. 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.

Somesville is located in Hancock 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 Hancock County: Penobscot, Waldo & Washington.

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

  • Hancock County     (The home county of Somesville)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Somesville, with the one closest to Somesville listed first.
    • Indian Point
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Indian Point is located in Hancock County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Point
    • Mount Desert
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Trenton
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Hulls Cove
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Salsbury Cove
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Salsbury Cove is located in Hancock County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salsbury Cove
    • West Trenton
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • West Trenton is located in Hancock County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Trenton
    • Southwest Harbor
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Northeast Harbor
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Bar Harbor
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Manset
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Manset is located in Hancock County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manset
    • Otter Creek
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Seal Cove
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Knox County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Somesville, with the one closest to Somesville listed first.
    • Isle Au Haut
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Pulpit Harbor
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Pulpit Harbor is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pulpit Harbor
  • Waldo County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Somesville, with the one closest to Somesville listed first.
    • Sandy Point
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Prospect Ferry
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Prospect Ferry is located in Waldo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prospect Ferry
    • North Islesboro
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • North Islesboro is located in Waldo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Islesboro
    • Stockton Springs
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Islesboro
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Islesboro is located in Waldo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Islesboro
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 562 people
    • Prospect
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Searsport
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
  • Washington County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Somesville, with the one closest to Somesville listed first.
    • Steuben
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • East Steuben
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • East Steuben is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Steuben
    • Milbridge
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Cherryfield
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Deblois
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Deblois is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deblois
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 54 people

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

Cemeteries Near Somesville ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Somesville.

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 Somesville - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Brookside Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Higgins Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
  • Mountain View Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • Pretty Marsh Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Paine Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Center Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Hodgdon Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Forest Hill Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Haynes Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Alley Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Murch Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Gray Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (153 more) ...

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.<3>

While we didn't find Somesville in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Somesville.

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

  • Indian Point
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Indian Point is located in Hancock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Point
  • Mount Desert
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • Pretty Marsh
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Pretty Marsh is located in Hancock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pretty Marsh
  • Asticou
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Asticou is located in Hancock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Asticou
  • Eden
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Eden is located in Hancock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eden
  • Southwest Harbor
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Trenton
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Northeast Harbor
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Hulls Cove
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • West Trenton
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • West Trenton is located in Hancock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Trenton
  • Seal Cove
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Seal Harbor
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (17 more) ...
    • Otter Creek
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Bar Harbor
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Lamoine Beach
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Lamoine Beach is located in Hancock County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lamoine Beach

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

Newspapers Published in Somesville ...

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 51 newspapers that have been published in the area around Somesville.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Somesville, there are papers which were published within 23 miles [37 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Somesville.

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 websites either 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 Somesville:

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>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.
<3>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 Somesville, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Somesville) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.