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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 Thornton (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 Thornton. 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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals 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.

Thornton is located in Grafton 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 Grafton County: Belknap, Carroll, Coos, Merrimack, Sullivan, Caledonia (VT), Essex (VT), Orange (VT) & Windsor (VT).

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

  • Grafton County     (The home county of Thornton)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Thornton, with the one closest to Thornton listed first.
    • Campton Upper Village
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Campton Upper Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Campton Upper Village
      • Campton Upper Village is located in Grafton County
    • Campton Lower Village
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Campton Lower Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Campton Lower Village
      • Campton Lower Village is located in Grafton County
    • Campton
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Campton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Campton
      • Campton is located in Grafton County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,335 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Campton <2>
    • Ellsworth
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Woodstock
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Woodstock have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodstock
      • Woodstock is located in Grafton County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,373 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Woodstock <2>
    • Plymouth
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Quincy
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Quincy. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quincy
      • Quincy is located in Grafton County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Quincy
      • From Thornton to Quincy
    • Rumney
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Rumney. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rumney
      • Rumney is located in Grafton County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,575 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rumney <2>
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Rumney
      • From Thornton to Rumney
    • Waterville Valley
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Waterville Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waterville Valley
      • Waterville Valley is located in Grafton County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 242 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Waterville Valley <2>
    • North Woodstock
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Holderness
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Lincoln
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
  • Belknap County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Thornton, with the one closest to Thornton listed first.
    • Center Harbor
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Center Harbor have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Center Harbor
      • Center Harbor is located in Belknap County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,097 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Center Harbor <2>
    • Meredith
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Meredith have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meredith
      • Meredith is located in Belknap County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,476 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Meredith <2>
    • New Hampton
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for New Hampton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Hampton
      • New Hampton is located in Belknap County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,234 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for New Hampton <2>
    • Interlaken Park
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Gaza
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Wildwood Village
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wildwood Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wildwood Village
      • Wildwood Village is located in Belknap County
    • Glendale
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Laconia
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Gilford
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gilford have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gilford
      • Gilford is located in Belknap County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 7,278 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Gilford <2>
    • Sanbornton
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sanbornton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sanbornton
      • Sanbornton is located in Belknap County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,012 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sanbornton <2>
    • Winnisquam
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Samoset
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Carroll County
  • Coos County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Thornton, with the one closest to Thornton listed first.
    • Hadleys Purchase
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hadleys Purchase have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hadleys Purchase
      • Hadleys Purchase is located in Coos County
    • Cutts Grant
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cutts Grant have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cutts Grant
      • Cutts Grant is located in Coos County
    • Fabyan
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Carroll
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Carroll have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carroll
      • Carroll is located in Coos County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 755 people
    • Beans Grant
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Beans Grant have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beans Grant
      • Beans Grant is located in Coos County
    • Crawfords Purchase
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Crawfords Purchase have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crawfords Purchase
      • Crawfords Purchase is located in Coos County
    • Sargents Purchase
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sargents Purchase have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sargents Purchase
      • Sargents Purchase is located in Coos County
    • Chandlers Purchase
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chandlers Purchase have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chandlers Purchase
      • Chandlers Purchase is located in Coos County
  • Merrimack County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Thornton, with the one closest to Thornton listed first.
    • Hill Center
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Hill
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Danbury
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • East Andover
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Franklin
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Northfield
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Northfield have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Northfield
      • Northfield is located in Merrimack County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,979 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Northfield <2>
  • Orange County (VT)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Thornton, with the one closest to Thornton listed first.
    • Newbury
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • South Newbury
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Fairlee
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Bradford
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • West Newbury
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Bradford
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bradford have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bradford
      • Bradford is located in Orange County (VT)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,684 people
    • Ely
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Fairlee
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fairlee have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairlee
      • Fairlee is located in Orange County (VT)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 976 people
    • Wells River
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wells River have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wells River
      • Wells River is located in Orange County (VT)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 382 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wells River <2>
    • Newbury
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Newbury have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newbury
      • Newbury is located in Orange County (VT)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,145 people
    • Thetford Center
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • West Fairlee
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Fairlee have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Fairlee
      • West Fairlee is located in Orange County (VT)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 682 people
  • Windsor County (VT)

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

Cemeteries Near Thornton ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Thornton.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Thornton, with the one closest to Thornton 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.<6>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Thornton had a population of 78 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Thornton had a population of 2,553 people.

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

  • West Campton
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Campton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Campton
    • West Campton is located in Grafton County
  • Campton
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Campton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Campton
    • Campton is located in Grafton County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,335 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Campton <2>
  • Blair
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Blair have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blair
    • Blair is located in Grafton County
  • West Thornton
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Thornton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Thornton
    • West Thornton is located in Grafton County
  • Woodstock
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Woodstock have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodstock
    • Woodstock is located in Grafton County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,373 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Woodstock <2>
  • Quincy
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Quincy. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quincy
    • Quincy is located in Grafton County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Quincy
    • From Thornton to Quincy
  • Plymouth
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Rumney
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Rumney. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rumney
    • Rumney is located in Grafton County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,575 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rumney <2>
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Rumney
    • From Thornton to Rumney
  • Rumney Depot
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rumney Depot have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rumney Depot
    • Rumney Depot is located in Grafton County
  • West Plymouth
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Plymouth have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Plymouth
    • West Plymouth is located in Grafton County
  • Holderness
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • North Woodstock
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • West Rumney
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Center Sandwich
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Center Sandwich have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Center Sandwich
      • Center Sandwich is located in Carroll County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Center Sandwich <2>
    • Ashland
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)

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

Newspapers Published in Thornton ...

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 52 newspapers that have been published in the area around Thornton.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Thornton, there are papers which were published within 24 miles [38.6 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Thornton.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These 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 Thornton:

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

The official website for State of New Hampshire: https://www.nh.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Thornton) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Thornton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.8770, Longitude: -71.6497       In this case, the coordinates for Thornton have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>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.
<6>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 Thornton, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025