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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 Athens (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 Athens. 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.

Athens is located in Greene 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 Greene County: Albany, Columbia, Delaware, Rensselaer, Schoharie & Ulster.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Athens ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Athens.

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

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

  • Athens Rural Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Athens Rural Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Athens Rural Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mt. Hope Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Hope Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Hope Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Swartwout Memorial Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Swartwout Memorial Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Swartwout Memorial Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Cedar Park Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Hudson City Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hudson City Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hudson City Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jefferson Rural Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jefferson Rural Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Jefferson Rural Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Patrick's Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Catskill Village Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Catskill Village Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Catskill Village Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Buckley's Corner Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Buckley's Corner Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Buckley's Corner Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hallenbeck - Collerberg Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hallenbeck - Collerberg Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hallenbeck - Collerberg Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • DuBois Family Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Mt. Pleasant Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • 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.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (338 more) ...

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 Athens had a population of 2,024 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Athens had a population of 1,594 people.

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

  • Hudson
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
  • West Athens
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Athens have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Athens
    • West Athens is located in Greene County
  • Greenport Center
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Catskill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Catskill have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Catskill
    • Catskill is located in Greene County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,815 people
  • Greendale
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Greendale have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greendale
    • Greendale is located in Columbia County
  • Claverack
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Claverack have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Claverack
    • Claverack is located in Columbia County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Claverack <2>
  • Stottville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Columbiaville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Columbiaville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Columbiaville
    • Columbiaville is located in Columbia County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Columbiaville <2>
  • Leeds
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Leeds have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leeds
    • Leeds is located in Greene County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Leeds <2>
  • Humphreysville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Humphreysville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Humphreysville
    • Humphreysville is located in Columbia County
  • Rossman
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rossman have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rossman
    • Rossman is located in Columbia County
  • Linlithgo
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Linlithgo have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Linlithgo
    • Linlithgo is located in Columbia County
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • West Coxsackie
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Coxsackie have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Coxsackie
      • West Coxsackie is located in Greene County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for West Coxsackie <2>
    • Coxsackie
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Burden
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Burden. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burden
      • Burden is located in Columbia County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Burden
      • From Athens to Burden

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Athens ...

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 113 newspapers that have been published in the area around Athens.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Athens. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Athens and those printed in the larger area surrounding Athens.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 15 miles [24.1 km]<6> of Athens.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 Athens:

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

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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.
<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 Athens, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Athens) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Athens. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.2606, Longitude: -73.8098    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025