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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 Broadwater (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 Broadwater. 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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.

Broadwater is located in Northampton County.

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

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

  • Northampton County     (The home county of Broadwater)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Broadwater, with the one closest to Broadwater listed first.
    • Marionville
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Marionville is located in Northampton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marionville
    • Sheps End
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Sheps End is located in Northampton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sheps End
    • Nassawadox
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Birdsnest
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Machipongo
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Exmore
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Exmore is located in Northampton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Exmore
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,362 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Exmore <1>
    • Bridgetown
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • Bridgetown is located in Northampton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bridgetown
    • Wardtown
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Wardtown is located in Northampton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wardtown
    • Eastville
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Jamesville
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Jamesville is located in Northampton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jamesville
    • Pat Town
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Pat Town is located in Northampton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pat Town
    • Pleasant Cove Village
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Pleasant Cove Village is located in Northampton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Cove Village
    • Cheriton
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Accomack County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Broadwater, with the one closest to Broadwater listed first.
    • Cats Bridge
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
      • Cats Bridge is located in Accomack County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cats Bridge
    • Belle Haven
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Savage Town
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Savage Town is located in Accomack County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Savage Town
    • Painter
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Wachapreague
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Locust Mount
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Locust Mount is located in Accomack County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locust Mount
    • Keller
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Melfa
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Locustville
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Crockett Town
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Crockett Town is located in Accomack County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crockett Town
    • Onley
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Tasley
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Accomac
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Accomac is located in Accomack County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Accomac
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 482 people
  • Mathews County

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

Cemeteries Near Broadwater ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Broadwater.

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 Broadwater - one of the links might be able to help.

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Broadwater covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Phillips Place Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Allen Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Holland Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Belle Haven Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Whitehead Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
  • Cape Charles Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Major Doughty Gravesite
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
  • McLane Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
  • Pungoteague Community Church Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
  • Martin/Hatton
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martin/Hatton
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Martin/Hatton is located outside and to the west of Melfa.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2258639 <2>
  • Tomb of Custin
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
  • Joynes Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (12 more) ...
    • Mt. Holly Cemetery
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Fairlawn Cemetery
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Fairview Lawn Cemetery
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairview Lawn Cemetery
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Fairview Lawn Cemetery is located outside and to the southeast of Onancock.

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, Broadwater had a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Marionville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Marionville is located in Northampton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marionville
  • Nassawadox
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Birdsnest
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Machipongo
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Exmore
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Exmore is located in Northampton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Exmore
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,362 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Exmore <1>
  • Hadlock
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Hadlock is located in Northampton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hadlock
  • Franktown
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Shadyside
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Shadyside is located in Northampton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shadyside
  • Belle Haven
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Bridgetown
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Bridgetown is located in Northampton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bridgetown
  • Eastville
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Mappsburg
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Mappsburg is located in Accomack County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mappsburg
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Wardtown
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Wardtown is located in Northampton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wardtown
    • Painter
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Wachapreague
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)

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

Newspapers Published in Broadwater ...

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 17 newspapers that have been published in the area around Broadwater.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Broadwater, there are papers which were published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Broadwater.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we start 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 Broadwater:

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 Broadwater, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 drawn from Point A (ie- Broadwater) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.