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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 Alden Center (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 Alden Center. 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 Alden Center ...

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 Alden Center: Alden Ctr. (or less commonly used: Alden Cen., Alden Cent. or Alden Cntr.)

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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.

Alden Center is located in Erie County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Erie County: Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Genesee, Niagara & Wyoming.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Alden Center ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Alden Center.

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

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

  • Alden Town Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Alden Town Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Alden Town Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2355878 <4>
  • St. John the Baptist Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
  • Alden Evergreen Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
  • Evergreen Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Evergreen Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Evergreen Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • German Lutheran Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the German Lutheran Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the German Lutheran Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Alden Union Free Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Crittenden Rural Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • St. John's RC Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. John's RC Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. John's RC Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Patrick's RC Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Patrick's RC Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Patrick's RC Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Adalbert's Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Adalbert's Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Adalbert's Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mt. Olive Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Olive Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Olive Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Maplewood Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Maplewood Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Maplewood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (398 more) ...
    • Marilla Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Marilla Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Marilla Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Cowlesville Village Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cowlesville Village Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Cowlesville Village Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Old Towne Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old Towne Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old Towne Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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.<5>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Alden Center had a population of 120 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • West Alden
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Alden have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Alden
    • West Alden is located in Erie County
  • Alden
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
  • Wende
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wende have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wende
    • Wende is located in Erie County
  • Millgrove
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Millgrove have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millgrove
    • Millgrove is located in Erie County
  • Town Line
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Crittenden
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • South Newstead
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Newstead have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Newstead
    • South Newstead is located in Erie County
  • Looneyville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Fargo
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fargo have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fargo
    • Fargo is located in Genesee County
  • East Lancaster
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Lancaster have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Lancaster
    • East Lancaster is located in Erie County
  • Marilla
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Marilla have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marilla
    • Marilla is located in Erie County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Marilla <1>
  • Williston
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (21 more) ...
    • Cowlesville
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cowlesville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cowlesville
      • Cowlesville is located in Wyoming County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cowlesville <1>
    • Clarence
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clarence have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clarence
      • Clarence is located in Erie County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Clarence <1>
    • Folsomdale
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)

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

Newspapers Published in Alden Center ...

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 95 newspapers that have been published in the area around Alden Center.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Alden Center, there are papers which were published within 16 miles [25.7 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Alden Center.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with 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 Alden Center:

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

The official website for Erie County: www.erie.gov/

The official website for State of New York: https://www.ny.gov/

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>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>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 Alden Center, 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- Alden Center) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Alden Center. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.9111, Longitude: -78.5235    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025