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The Commemorative Quarter for Maine





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 South Berwick (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 South Berwick. 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 South Berwick ...

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.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might have occurred.

For example, a typical abbreviation for South Berwick: S. Berwick

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 and 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.

South Berwick is located in York County.

To see how the shape of Maine's counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of York County: Cumberland, Oxford, Carroll (NH), Rockingham (NH) & Strafford (NH).

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

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

Cemeteries Near South Berwick ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of South Berwick.

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.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

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

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

  • Pleasant Hill Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pleasant Hill Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pleasant Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Portland Station Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Portland Station Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Portland Station Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Old Town Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old Town Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old Town Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • New Town Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the New Town Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the New Town Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Patricks Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Patricks Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Patricks Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Michaels Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Michaels Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Michaels Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Oldfields Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Oldfields Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Oldfields Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Woodlawn Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Woodlawn Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Woodlawn Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mt. Calvaire Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Somersworth Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Somersworth Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Somersworth Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Forest Glade Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Holy Trinity Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Holy Trinity Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Holy Trinity Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (246 more) ...
    • Hussy Cemetery
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • St. Charles Cemetery
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Charles Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Charles Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Cocheco Burying Ground
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cocheco Burying Ground
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Cocheco Burying Ground have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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.<5>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that South Berwick had a population of 1,750 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, South Berwick had a population of 7,613 people.

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

  • Berwick
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Somersworth
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Dover
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Sawyers
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sawyers have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sawyers
    • Sawyers is located in Strafford County (NH)
  • North Berwick
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Madbury
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Madbury have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Madbury
    • Madbury is located in Strafford County (NH)
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,879 people
  • York
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for York have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for York
    • York is located in York County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 13,329 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for York <1>
  • Agamenticus Village
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Agamenticus Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Agamenticus Village
    • Agamenticus Village is located in York County
  • Pickering
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pickering have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pickering
    • Pickering is located in Strafford County (NH)
  • Newington Station
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • South Eliot
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Eliot have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Eliot
    • South Eliot is located in York County
  • Gonic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gonic have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gonic
    • Gonic is located in Strafford County (NH)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of South Berwick ...

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 134 newspapers that have been published in the area around South Berwick.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of South Berwick. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of South Berwick and those printed in the larger area surrounding South Berwick.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 14 miles [22.5 km]<6> of South Berwick.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 South Berwick:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for South Berwick. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for York County: www.co.york.me.us/

The official website for State of Maine: https://www.maine.gov/

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 location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<3>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<4>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.
<5>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 South Berwick, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>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- South Berwick) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in South Berwick. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.2344, Longitude: -70.8090    









 

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In closing, please keep in mind that we can not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information on this website, so use with care. We encourage you to double-check the information that is critical to you.

If you've found an error or have additional information that you would like to share, please don't hesitate to write: Click here to contact us.

This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025