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 Berkeley Heights (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 Berkeley Heights. 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 Berkeley Heights ...
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 have occurred.
For example, a typical abbreviation for Berkeley Heights: Berkeley Hts. (in Canada, 'Hgts.' is the more common abbreviation.)
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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors 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.
Below are the counties that are near Berkeley Heights. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Berkeley Heights:
Union County (The home county of Berkeley Heights)
The following are listed by their distance from Berkeley Heights, with the one closest to Berkeley Heights listed first.
Benders Corner (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
Warren Point (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Warren Point. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Fort Lee. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Mount Rose. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Bradevelt. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Chapel Hill. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Whippany. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Hanover Neck. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Littleton. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
The following are listed by their distance from Berkeley Heights, with the one closest to Berkeley Heights listed first.
Little Falls (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Little Falls. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
The Village at Little Falls (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for The Village at Little Falls have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
Blackwells Mills (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Blackwells Mills. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
Allamuchy - Panther Valley (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Allamuchy - Panther Valley. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Long Bridge. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Karrsville. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Fort Hamilton. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Gravesend. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Williamsburg. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
Battery Park City is located in New York County (NY)
Fort Jay (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Fort Jay. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
University Village is located in New York County (NY)
Washington Square Village (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Washington Square Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Annadale. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Great Kills. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Berkeley Heights.
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).
Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Mary's RC Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
North Plainfield Burying Ground (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the North Plainfield Burying Ground have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
Meyersville Cemetery (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Vincent's Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
Hillside Cemetery (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Revolutionary Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
St. Teresa Cemetery (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Trinity United Church Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
Hofheimer Cemetery (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
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 Berkeley Heights had a population of 200 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Berkeley Heights, with the one closest to Berkeley Heights listed first.
Netherwood (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Netherwood have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
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 138 newspapers that have been published in the area around Berkeley Heights.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Berkeley Heights, there are papers which were published within 11 miles [17.7 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Berkeley Heights.
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 either 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 Berkeley Heights:
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>
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>
While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Berkeley Heights, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>
Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Berkeley Heights) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Berkeley Heights. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.6702, Longitude: -74.4274