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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 Alton Bay (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 Alton Bay. 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 northwest 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 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.

Alton Bay is located in Belknap County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Belknap County: Carroll, Grafton, Merrimack & Strafford.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Alton Bay ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Alton Bay.

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 Alton Bay covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Alton Bay Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
  • Pickering Plot
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pickering Plot
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pickering Plot have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Barnstead Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Barnstead Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Barnstead Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Pine Grove Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pine Grove Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pine Grove Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Second Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Second Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Second Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • West Alton Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the West Alton Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the West Alton Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • South Wolfeboro Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Smith Meeting House Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Smith Meeting House Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Smith Meeting House Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Pitman Family Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Wentworth Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wentworth Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wentworth Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Whitehouse Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Whitehouse Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Whitehouse Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Lakeview Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lakeview Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lakeview Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (310 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.<5>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Alton Bay had a population of 300 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service.

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

  • Alton
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
  • Gilmanton Ironworks
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gilmanton Ironworks have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gilmanton Ironworks
    • Gilmanton Ironworks is located in Belknap County
  • New Durham
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Mount Major
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mount Major have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Major
    • Mount Major is located in Belknap County
  • Davis
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Davis. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Davis
    • Davis is located in Strafford County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Davis
    • From Alton Bay to Davis
  • South Wolfeboro
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • West Alton
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Spring Haven
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Lower Gilmanton
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Middleton
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Middleton have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Middleton
    • Middleton is located in Strafford County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,832 people
  • Wolfeboro
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Gilmanton
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (19 more) ...
    • Barnstead
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Barnstead have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barnstead
      • Barnstead is located in Belknap County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,777 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Barnstead <1>
    • Center Barnstead
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Center Barnstead have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Center Barnstead
      • Center Barnstead is located in Belknap County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Center Barnstead <1>
    • Lake Shore Park
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lake Shore Park have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Shore Park
      • Lake Shore Park is located in Belknap County

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

Newspapers Published in Alton Bay ...

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 65 newspapers that have been published in the area around Alton Bay.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Alton Bay, there are papers which were published within 17 miles [27.4 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Alton Bay.

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 professional and volunteer 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 Alton Bay:

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

The official website for Belknap County: www.belknapcounty.org/

The official website for State of New Hampshire: https://www.nh.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>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.
<3>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.
<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 Alton Bay, 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Alton Bay) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Alton Bay. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.4703, Longitude: -71.2337    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025