RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Maine >> Piscataquis County >> West Dover >> Genealogy HelperIndex...

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 West Dover (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 West Dover. 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 West Dover ...

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.

For example, a typical abbreviation for West Dover: W. Dover

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

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 southeast 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 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 east 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.

West Dover 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 West Dover. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to West Dover:

  • Piscataquis County     (The home county of West Dover)
    • The following are listed by their distance from West Dover, with the one closest to West Dover listed first.
    • Dover South Mills
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Dover South Mills is located in Piscataquis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dover South Mills
    • East Sangerville
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • East Sangerville is located in Piscataquis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Sangerville
    • Dover - Foxcroft
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Howard Corner
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Howard Corner is located in Piscataquis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Howard Corner
    • South Dover
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • South Dover is located in Piscataquis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Dover
    • Sangerville
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Atkinson Mills
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Atkinson Mills is located in Piscataquis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Atkinson Mills
    • Guilford
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Atkinson
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
      • Atkinson is located in Piscataquis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Atkinson
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 311 people
    • Parkman
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Steadman Landing
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
      • Steadman Landing is located in Piscataquis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Steadman Landing
    • Bowerbank
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
      • Bowerbank is located in Piscataquis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bowerbank
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 113 people
    • Abbot
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Abbot is located in Piscataquis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Abbot
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 687 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Abbot <1>
  • Penobscot County
    • The following are listed by their distance from West Dover, with the one closest to West Dover listed first.
    • Silvers Mills
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • Silvers Mills is located in Penobscot County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silvers Mills
    • Dexter
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Dexter is located in Penobscot County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dexter
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,702 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Dexter <1>
    • Russell Corner
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Russell Corner is located in Penobscot County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Russell Corner
    • Garland
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Garland is located in Penobscot County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garland
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,046 people
    • Charleston
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
      • Charleston is located in Penobscot County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charleston
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,675 people
    • Exeter
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Exeter is located in Penobscot County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Exeter
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,098 people
    • East Exeter
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • East Exeter is located in Penobscot County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Exeter
    • North Bradford
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
      • North Bradford is located in Penobscot County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Bradford
    • Corinna
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Corinth
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Bradford
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • North Newport
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • North Newport is located in Penobscot County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Newport
    • Bradford Center
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Bradford Center is located in Penobscot County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bradford Center
  • Somerset County
    • The following are listed by their distance from West Dover, with the one closest to West Dover listed first.
    • Ripley
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Ripley is located in Somerset County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ripley
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 479 people
    • Cambridge
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Mainstream
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Mainstream is located in Somerset County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mainstream
    • Saint Albans
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Harmony
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Hartland
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Palmyra
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • West Palmyra
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • West Palmyra is located in Somerset County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Palmyra
    • Detroit
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Dogtown
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Dogtown is located in Somerset County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dogtown
    • Houston Corner
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Houston Corner is located in Somerset County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Houston Corner
    • Brighton
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
      • 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
    • Mayfield Corner
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
      • Mayfield Corner is located in Somerset County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayfield Corner
  • Waldo County
    • Burnham
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Burnham is located in Waldo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burnham
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,243 people

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

Cemeteries Near West Dover ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of West Dover.

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 West Dover - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

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 West Dover in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of West Dover.

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

  • Silvers Mills
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Silvers Mills is located in Penobscot County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silvers Mills
  • Dover South Mills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Dover South Mills is located in Piscataquis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dover South Mills
  • East Sangerville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • East Sangerville is located in Piscataquis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Sangerville
  • North Dexter
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • North Dexter is located in Penobscot County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Dexter
  • South Dover
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • South Dover is located in Piscataquis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Dover
  • Dexter
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Dexter is located in Penobscot County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dexter
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,702 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Dexter <1>
  • Garland
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Garland is located in Penobscot County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garland
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,046 people
  • East Dover
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • East Dover is located in Piscataquis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Dover
  • Sangerville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • West Charleston
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • West Charleston is located in Penobscot County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Charleston
  • Guilford
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Charleston
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Charleston is located in Penobscot County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charleston
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,675 people
  • Continue List   (19 more) ...
    • Atkinson
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
      • Atkinson is located in Piscataquis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Atkinson
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 311 people
    • South Sebec
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • South Sebec is located in Piscataquis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Sebec
    • Parkman
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)

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

Newspapers Published in West Dover ...

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 27 newspapers that have been published in the area around West Dover.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of West Dover, there are papers which were published within 20 miles [32.2 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for West Dover.

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 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 West Dover:

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 West Dover, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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 drawn from Point A (ie- West Dover) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.