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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 Benson Mines (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 Benson Mines. 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 southwest 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 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 west 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.

Benson Mines is located in Saint Lawrence County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Saint Lawrence County: Franklin, Hamilton, Herkimer, Jefferson & Lewis.

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

  • Saint Lawrence County     (The home county of Benson Mines)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Benson Mines, with the one closest to Benson Mines listed first.
    • Star Lake
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Oswegatchie
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Newton Falls
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Lower Oswegatchie
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Lower Oswegatchie is located in Saint Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lower Oswegatchie
    • Coffins Mills
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Coffins Mills is located in Saint Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coffins Mills
    • Wanakena
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jayville ‑ Historic
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Jayville is located in Saint Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jayville
    • Cranberry Lake
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • South Edwards
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • South Edwards is located in Saint Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Edwards
    • Degrasse
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
      • Degrasse is located in Saint Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Degrasse
    • Edwards
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Edwards is located in Saint Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edwards
      • Estimated population in 2012: 433 people
    • Clare
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Clare is located in Saint Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clare
    • Palmerville
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Palmerville is located in Saint Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palmerville
  • Franklin County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Benson Mines, with the one closest to Benson Mines listed first.
    • Altamont
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Altamont is located in Franklin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Altamont
    • Tupper Lake
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
  • Hamilton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Benson Mines, with the one closest to Benson Mines listed first.
    • Inlet
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
    • Raquette Lake
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Herkimer County
  • Jefferson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Benson Mines, with the one closest to Benson Mines listed first.
    • Natural Bridge
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Antwerp
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
  • Lewis County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Benson Mines, with the one closest to Benson Mines listed first.
    • Harrisville
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Jerden Falls
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
      • Jerden Falls is located in Lewis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jerden Falls
    • Lake Bonaparte
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
      • Lake Bonaparte is located in Lewis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Bonaparte
    • Number Four
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Number Four is located in Lewis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Number Four
    • Belfort
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Belfort is located in Lewis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belfort
    • Indian River
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Indian River is located in Lewis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian River
    • Forest City
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Forest City is located in Lewis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest City
    • Croghan
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Crystal Dale
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Crystal Dale is located in Lewis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crystal Dale
    • Naumburg
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Naumburg is located in Lewis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Naumburg
    • Petries Corners
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Petries Corners is located in Lewis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Petries Corners

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

Cemeteries Near Benson Mines ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Benson Mines.

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 Benson Mines - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

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 in 1895, Benson Mines had a post office and railroad service.

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

  • Oswegatchie
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
  • Coffins Mills
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Coffins Mills is located in Saint Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coffins Mills
  • Fine
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Jayville ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Jayville is located in Saint Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jayville
  • Cranberry Lake
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • East Pitcairn
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • East Pitcairn is located in Saint Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Pitcairn
  • South Edwards
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • South Edwards is located in Saint Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Edwards
  • Degrasse
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Degrasse is located in Saint Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Degrasse
  • Pitcairn
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Pitcairn is located in Saint Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pitcairn
  • South Russell
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • South Russell is located in Saint Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Russell
  • Edwards
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Edwards is located in Saint Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edwards
    • Estimated population in 2012: 433 people
  • Harrisville
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Clare
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Clare is located in Saint Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clare
    • Sevey
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Sevey is located in Saint Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sevey
    • Talcville
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Talcville is located in Saint Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Talcville

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

Newspapers Published in Benson Mines ...

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 54 newspapers that have been published in the area around Benson Mines.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Benson Mines, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Benson Mines.

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 helpful 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 Benson Mines:

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>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 from Point A (ie- Benson Mines) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<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 Benson Mines, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.