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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 South Springfield (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 Springfield. 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 Springfield ...

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 occur.

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

You might be interested in other communities that are also named South Springfield. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for South Springfield.

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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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 Springfield is located in Penobscot 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 Penobscot County: Aroostook, Hancock, Piscataquis, Somerset, Waldo & Washington.

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

  • Penobscot County     (The home county of South Springfield)
    • The following are listed by their distance from South Springfield, with the one closest to South Springfield listed first.
    • Springfield
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Carroll
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Lakeville
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Lakeville is located in Penobscot County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 100 people
    • Plantation of Prentiss
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Lee
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Kingman
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Winn
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Winn is located in Penobscot County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winn
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 402 people
    • Mattawamkeag
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Drew Plantation
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Drew Plantation is located in Penobscot County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Drew Plantation
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 37 people
    • Woodville
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Woodville is located in Penobscot County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 235 people
    • Burlington
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Lincoln
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Chester
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
  • Aroostook County
    • The following are listed by their distance from South Springfield, with the one closest to South Springfield listed first.
    • Wytopitlock
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Wytopitlock is located in Aroostook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wytopitlock
    • Molunkus
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Macwahoc Plantation
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Macwahoc Plantation is located in Aroostook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Macwahoc Plantation
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 74 people
    • Bancroft
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Reed Plantation
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Reed Plantation is located in Aroostook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reed Plantation
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 143 people
    • Weston
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Glenwood Plantation
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Glenwood Plantation is located in Aroostook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenwood Plantation
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3 people
  • Hancock County
    • Great Pond
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Great Pond is located in Hancock County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Great Pond
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 56 people
  • Washington County
    • The following are listed by their distance from South Springfield, with the one closest to South Springfield listed first.
    • Talmadge
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • Talmadge is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Talmadge
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 62 people
    • Topsfield
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Waite
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Brookton
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Grand Lake Stream Plantation
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Grand Lake Stream Plantation is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Lake Stream Plantation
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 105 people
    • Grand Lake Stream
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Codyville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Codyville is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Codyville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 23 people
      • Codyville has also been known as:
      • Codyville Plantation
    • Danforth
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Forest City
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Princeton
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Forest City Landing
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Forest City Landing is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest City Landing
    • Lambert Lake
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Lambert Lake is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lambert Lake

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

Cemeteries Near South Springfield ...

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

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 South Springfield - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Woodlawn Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Academy Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Belding Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • East Winn Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Half Twp. Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
  • Turner Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
  • North Chester Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
  • South Winn Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
  • Long Ridge Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
  • Drew Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
  • Snow Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
  • Middle Chester Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (37 more) ...
    • Page Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Mt. Repose Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Village Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)

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, South Springfield had a post office and no railroad service.

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

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

Newspapers Published in South Springfield ...

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 10 newspapers that have been published in the area around South Springfield.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of South Springfield, there are papers which were published within 23 miles [37 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for South Springfield.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 Springfield:

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 South Springfield, 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- South Springfield) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.