Rhode Island Gazetteers

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Rhode Island

Gazetteers

Online Gazetteers

• FamilySearch Places
• Rhode Island Hometown Locator
• A Gazetteer of the States of Connecticut and Rhode-Island. By John C. Pease and John M. Niles. Salt Lake City, Utah : Digitized by FamilySearch International, 2017.
• The New England Gazetteer, containing descriptions of all the states, counties and towns in New England ; also descriptions of the principal mountains, rivers, lakes, capes, bays, harbors, islands, and fashionable resorts within that territory. By John Hayward. Concord, N. H. : Israel S. Boyd and William White, 1839.
• A Geographic Dictionary of Rhode Island. By Henry Gannett. Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1978. Reprint of 1894 edition. Online at: FamilySearch Digital Library.
• Rhode Island—A Guide to the Smallest State. Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1937. Online at: FamilySearch Digital Library.
• The National Gazetteer of the United States of America. United States Concise 1990. U. S. Geological Survey. Washington : U.S. G.P.O. ; 1990.
• Seventeenth Century Place-names of Providence Plantations, 1636-1700. Compiled by Clarence S. Brigham. Rutland, Vermont : Tuttle Antiquarian Books, [1987?]. Online at: FamilySearch Digital Library.
• Official Gazetteer of Rhode Island. Compiled by the Rhode Island Geographic Board. Washington, D.C. : Government Printing Office (United States), 1932. FS Library film 6071791(*). Online at: Ancestry ($).
• New England Business Directory And Gazetteer, 1918, Part 3 at MyHeritage — index & images ($)

Print Only Gazetteers

• Official Gazetteer of Rhode Island. Compiled by the Rhode Island Geographic Board. Washington, D.C. : Government Printing Office (United States), 1932. FS Catalog book 974.5 E5r.

Why Use Gazetteers

A gazetteer is a dictionary of place-names. Gazetteers list or describe towns and villages, parishes, states, populations, rivers and mountains, and other geographical features. They usually include only the names of places that existed at the time the gazetteer was published. Within a specific geographical area, the place-names are listed in alphabetical order, similar to a dictionary. You can use a gazetteer to locate the places where your family lived and to determine the civil and religious jurisdictions over those places.

There are many places within a state with similar or identical place-names. You will need to use a gazetteer to identify the specific town where your ancestor lived, the state the town was or is in, and the jurisdictions where records about the person was kept.

Gazetteer Contents

Gazetteers may also provide additional information about towns, such as:

• Different religious denominations
• Schools, colleges, and universities
• Major manufacturers, canals, docks, and railroad stations
• The population size.
• Boundaries of civil jurisdiction.
• Ecclesiastical jurisdiction(s)
• Longitude and latitude.
• Distances and direction from other from cities.
• Schools, colleges, and universities.
• Denominations and number of churches.
• Historical and biographical information on some individuals (usually high-ranking or famous individuals)