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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 Bird (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 Bird. 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 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.

Bird is located in Cattaraugus 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 Cattaraugus County: Allegany, Chautauqua, Erie, Wyoming, McKean (PA) & Warren (PA).

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

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

Cemeteries Near Bird ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Bird.

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

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

  • Mt. Hope Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • St. Johns Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Ten Broeck Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Maple Grove Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Bryant Hill Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bryant Hill Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bryant Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Cadiz Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cadiz Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Cadiz Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mt. Prospect Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Kimball Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Kimball Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Kimball Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Plato Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Plato Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Plato Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Root Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Root Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Root Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #65857 <4>
  • Riceville Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Riceville Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Riceville Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2209513 <4>
  • Holland Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Holland Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Holland Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (262 more) ...
    • Elton Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Elton Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Elton Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • McKinstry Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the McKinstry Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the McKinstry Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Holy Cross Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Holy Cross Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Holy Cross 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.<5>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Bird had a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Devereaux
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Devereaux have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Devereaux
    • Devereaux is located in Cattaraugus County
  • Ashford
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ashford have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ashford
    • Ashford is located in Cattaraugus County
  • Cadiz
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cadiz have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cadiz
    • Cadiz is located in Cattaraugus County
  • Franklinville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Franklinville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Franklinville
    • Franklinville is located in Cattaraugus County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,622 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Franklinville <1>
  • Machias Junction
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Machias Junction have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Machias Junction
    • Machias Junction is located in Cattaraugus County
  • Machias
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • West Valley
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Valley
    • West Valley is located in Cattaraugus County
  • Riceville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Riceville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riceville
    • Riceville is located in Cattaraugus County
  • Laidlaw
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Laidlaw have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Laidlaw
    • Laidlaw is located in Cattaraugus County
  • Fitch
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fitch have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fitch
    • Fitch is located in Cattaraugus County
  • Farmersville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Farmersville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farmersville
    • Farmersville is located in Cattaraugus County
  • Elton
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Elton. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elton
    • Elton is located in Cattaraugus County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Elton
    • From Bird to Elton
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Ellicottville
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Humphrey Center
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Humphrey Center have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Humphrey Center
      • Humphrey Center is located in Cattaraugus County
    • Ischua
      (10 miles [16.1 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 Bird. See our List of 1890's Communities around Bird.

Newspapers Published in Bird ...

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 158 newspapers that have been published in the area around Bird.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Bird, there are papers which were published within 23 miles [37 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Bird.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin 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 Bird:

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

The official website for Cattaraugus County: www.co.cattaraugus.ny.us/

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>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>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 Bird, 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' (or 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- Bird) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Bird. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.3660, Longitude: -78.5400    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025