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 Westfield (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 Westfield. 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.
Westfield is located in Aroostook 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 Aroostook County: Penobscot, Piscataquis, Somerset & Washington.
Below are the counties that are near Westfield. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Westfield:
- Aroostook County (The home county of Westfield)
- The following are listed by their distance from Westfield, with the one closest to Westfield listed first.
- Easton
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
- Easton is located in Aroostook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Easton
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,177 people
- Kings Grove
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Kings Grove is located in Aroostook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kings Grove
- Mars Hill
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Blaine
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Presque Isle
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
- Bridgewater
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Chapman
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
- Chapman is located in Aroostook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chapman
- Population from the 2020 Census: 450 people
- Mapleton
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
- Fort Fairfield
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- Crouseville
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
- Crouseville is located in Aroostook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crouseville
- Walker
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
- Walker is located in Aroostook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walker
- Adaline
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
- Adaline is located in Aroostook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Adaline
- Castle Hill
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
- Castle Hill is located in Aroostook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Castle Hill
- Population from the 2020 Census: 390 people
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Westfield, see our County-by-County Page for Westfield.
Cemeteries Near Westfield ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Westfield.
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 Westfield - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Westfield covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Westfield, with the one closest to Westfield listed first.
- Marshall Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
- Pierce Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
- Getchell Farnham Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
- Snow Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Kings Grove Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Kings Hill Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Estey Park Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
- Glenwood Park Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
- Tapley Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Mt. Shilo Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Sanborn Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- East Blaine Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Continue List (137 more) ...
- Ladner Fuller Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- Fairmount Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
- Pine Tree Church Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
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>
The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Westfield had a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Westfield had a population of 505 people.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Westfield, with the one closest to Westfield listed first.
- Mars Hill
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Easton
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
- Easton is located in Aroostook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Easton
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,177 people
- Blaine
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Presque Isle
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
- Bridgewater
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Maple Grove
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
- Maple Grove is located in Aroostook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Grove
- Parkhurst
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
- Parkhurst is located in Aroostook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parkhurst
- Mapleton
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
- Fort Fairfield
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- Roberts
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
- Roberts is located in Aroostook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roberts
- Castle Hill
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
- Castle Hill is located in Aroostook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Castle Hill
- Population from the 2020 Census: 390 people
- Monticello
(18 miles [29 km] to the south)
- Continue List (16 more) ...
- East Lyndon
(18 miles [29 km] to the north)
- East Lyndon is located in Aroostook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Lyndon
- Washburn
(18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
- Hurd
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
- Hurd is located in Aroostook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hurd
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Westfield. See our List of 1890's Communities around Westfield.
Newspapers Published in Westfield ...
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 21 newspapers that have been published in the area around Westfield.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Westfield, 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 Westfield.
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 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 Westfield:
- Websites specific to Maine
- Pages specific to Aroostook County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- 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> | 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 Westfield, 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 from Point A (ie- Westfield) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |