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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 Alexander (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 Alexander. 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 northeast 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 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 east 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.

Alexander is located in Genesee 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 Genesee County: Erie, Livingston, Monroe, Orleans & Wyoming.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Alexander ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Alexander.

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

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

  • Alexander Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Alexander Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Alexander Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Forest Hills Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Forest Hills Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Forest Hills Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Vincent Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Vincent Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Vincent Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Brainard Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Brainard Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Brainard Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • West Bethany Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the West Bethany Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the West Bethany Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • West Bethany Rural Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the West Bethany Rural Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the West Bethany Rural Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mt. Pleasant Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • East Bennington German Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the East Bennington German Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the East Bennington German Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Summit View Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Summit View Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Summit View Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Prison Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Prison Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Prison Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Vernal Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Vernal Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Vernal Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • West Middlebury Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the West Middlebury Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the West Middlebury Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (421 more) ...
    • Putnam Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Putnam Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Putnam Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Maple Hill Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Maple Hill Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Maple Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Darien Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Darien Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Darien Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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.<4>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Alexander had a population of 1,000 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Alexander had a population of 489 people.

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

  • Attica
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • West Bethany
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • East Alexander
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Ray
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ray have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ray
    • Ray is located in Genesee County
  • Darien
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Darien have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Darien
    • Darien is located in Genesee County
  • Griswold
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Griswold. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Griswold
    • Griswold is located in Genesee County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Griswold
    • From Alexander to Griswold
  • Sierks
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sierks have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sierks
    • Sierks is located in Wyoming County
  • West Batavia
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Batavia have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Batavia
    • West Batavia is located in Genesee County
  • Linden
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Linden. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Linden
    • Linden is located in Genesee County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Linden
    • From Alexander to Linden
  • Sawens
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Sawens. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sawens
    • Sawens is located in Genesee County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Sawens
    • From Alexander to Sawens
  • Darien Center
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Darien Center have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Darien Center
    • Darien Center is located in Genesee County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Darien Center <3>
  • Dale
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (24 more) ...
    • East Pembroke
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Pembroke have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Pembroke
      • East Pembroke is located in Genesee County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for East Pembroke <3>
    • Batavia
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Bennington
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bennington have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bennington
      • Bennington is located in Wyoming County

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Alexander ...

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 86 newspapers that have been published in the area around Alexander.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Alexander. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Alexander and those printed in the larger area surrounding Alexander.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 17 miles [27.4 km]<5> of Alexander.

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 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 Alexander:

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

The official website for Genesee County: www.co.genesee.ny.us/

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>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.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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 Alexander, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<5>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- Alexander) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Alexander. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.9013, Longitude: -78.2569    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025