RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of New Jersey >> Salem County >> Hancocks Bridge >> Genealogy HelperIndex...










Learn About
The Commemorative
Quarter for
New Jersey

The Commemorative Quarter for New Jersey





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 Hancocks Bridge (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 Hancocks Bridge. 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 Hancocks Bridge ...

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.

  • A typical abbreviation for Hancocks Bridge: Hancocks Brg. (or less commonly used: Hancocks Brdg. or Hancocks Brdge.)
  • While the name of this community is Hancocks Bridge, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Hancocks Bridge may originally have been Hancock's Bridge.

    Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Hancocks Bridge might be written as Hancock Bridge.

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.

Hancocks Bridge is located in Salem County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Salem County: New Castle (DE), Cumberland & Gloucester.

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

  • Salem County     (The home county of Hancocks Bridge)
  • Camden County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hancocks Bridge, with the one closest to Hancocks Bridge listed first.
    • Blackwood
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Sicklerville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Glendora
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Glendora have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glendora
      • Glendora is located in Camden County
  • Cumberland County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hancocks Bridge, with the one closest to Hancocks Bridge listed first.
    • Othello
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Roadstown
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Bay Side
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Bay Side. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bay Side
      • Bay Side is located in Cumberland County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Bay Side
      • From Hancocks Bridge to Bay Side
    • Beals Mill
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Greenwich
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Seabrook Farms
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Seabrook Farms have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seabrook Farms
      • Seabrook Farms is located in Cumberland County
    • West Village
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Village have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Village
      • West Village is located in Cumberland County
    • Bridgeton Junction
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Bridgeton
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Fairton
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fairton have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairton
      • Fairton is located in Cumberland County
    • Rosenhayn
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Cedarville
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cedarville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedarville
      • Cedarville is located in Cumberland County
    • Pleasantville
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pleasantville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasantville
      • Pleasantville is located in Cumberland County
  • Gloucester County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hancocks Bridge, with the one closest to Hancocks Bridge listed first.
    • Avis Mills
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Beckett
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Beckett have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beckett
      • Beckett is located in Gloucester County
    • Ferrell
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Ferrell. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ferrell
      • Ferrell is located in Gloucester County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Ferrell
      • From Hancocks Bridge to Ferrell
    • Mullica Hill
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Bridgeport
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Cooper
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Cooper. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cooper
      • Cooper is located in Gloucester County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Cooper
      • From Hancocks Bridge to Cooper
    • Mickleton
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Centre City
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Centre City have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centre City
      • Centre City is located in Gloucester County
    • Gibbstown
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gibbstown have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gibbstown
      • Gibbstown is located in Gloucester County
    • Buckingham Village
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Buckingham Village have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buckingham Village
      • Buckingham Village is located in Gloucester County
    • Sewell
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Downer
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Downer. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Downer
      • Downer is located in Gloucester County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Downer
      • From Hancocks Bridge to Downer
    • Oak Valley
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oak Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Valley
      • Oak Valley is located in Gloucester County
  • Kent County (DE)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hancocks Bridge, with the one closest to Hancocks Bridge listed first.
    • Smyrna
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Smyrna have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smyrna
      • Smyrna is located in Kent County (DE)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 12,163 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Smyrna <4>
    • Spruance City
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Spruance City have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spruance City
      • Spruance City is located in Kent County (DE)
    • Burtonwood Village
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Burtonwood Village have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burtonwood Village
      • Burtonwood Village is located in Kent County (DE)
    • Clayton
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Sunnyside Village
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sunnyside Village have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnyside Village
      • Sunnyside Village is located in Kent County (DE)
    • Leipsic
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Lakeshore Village
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lakeshore Village have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeshore Village
      • Lakeshore Village is located in Kent County (DE)
    • Cheswold
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cheswold have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cheswold
      • Cheswold is located in Kent County (DE)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,759 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cheswold <4>
    • Blackiston
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Kenton
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kenton have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kenton
      • Kenton is located in Kent County (DE)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 275 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Kenton <4>
    • Carlisle Village
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Carlisle Village have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carlisle Village
      • Carlisle Village is located in Kent County (DE)
    • Independence Village
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Independence Village have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Independence Village
      • Independence Village is located in Kent County (DE)
    • Little Creek
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
  • New Castle County (DE)
  • Chester County (PA)
  • Delaware County (PA)

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

Cemeteries Near Hancocks Bridge ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Hancocks Bridge.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Hancocks Bridge, with the one closest to Hancocks Bridge 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 Hancocks Bridge had a population of 191 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Harmersville
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Harmersville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harmersville
    • Harmersville is located in Salem County
  • Canton
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Quinton
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Quinton have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quinton
    • Quinton is located in Salem County
  • Salem
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Penton
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Acton
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Acton have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Acton
    • Acton is located in Salem County
  • Alloway
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Port Penn
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Mowers
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mowers have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mowers
    • Mowers is located in Salem County
  • Roadstown
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Cohansey
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cohansey have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cohansey
    • Cohansey is located in Cumberland County
  • Oakland
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oakland have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakland
    • Oakland is located in Salem County
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Riddleton
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Riddleton have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riddleton
      • Riddleton is located in Salem County
    • Delaware City
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Bay Side
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Bay Side. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bay Side
      • Bay Side is located in Cumberland County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Bay Side
      • From Hancocks Bridge to Bay Side

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

Newspapers Published in Hancocks Bridge ...

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 30 newspapers that have been published in the area around Hancocks Bridge.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Hancocks Bridge, there are papers which were published within 12 miles [19.3 km]<7>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Hancocks Bridge.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 Hancocks Bridge:

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

The official website for Salem County: www.salemco.org/

The official website for State of New Jersey: https://www.nj.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>It's generally believed that possessive apostrophes are removed to prevent confusion on maps where the apostrophe may be confused with a cartographic symbol. While this is generally true, it's not uncommon to find possessive apostrophes in administrative names (such as towns or counties).
<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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Hancocks Bridge, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<7>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- Hancocks Bridge) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Hancocks Bridge. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.5078, Longitude: -75.4596       In this case, the coordinates for Hancocks Bridge have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

Copyright 2025
All Rights Reserved

Thank you for visiting our website.

In closing, please keep in mind that we can not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information on this website, so use with care. We encourage you to double-check the information that is critical to you.

If you've found an error or have additional information that you would like to share, please don't hesitate to write: Click here to contact us.

This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025