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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 Black Rock (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 Black Rock. 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 Black Rock ...

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.

Another variation: Blackrock.

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 and doctors 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.

Black Rock is located in Cayuga 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 Cayuga County: Cortland, Onondaga, Oswego, Seneca, Tompkins & Wayne.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Black Rock ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Black Rock.

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

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

  • Ledyard Church Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ledyard Church Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ledyard Church Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Ridgeway Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ridgeway Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ridgeway Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Ridgeway Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ridgeway Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ridgeway Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mosher Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mosher Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mosher Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Quaker Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Quaker Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Quaker Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Howland Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Howland Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Howland Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Sheldrake Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sheldrake Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sheldrake Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Our Lady of the Lake Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Our Lady of the Lake Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Our Lady of the Lake Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • West Genoa Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the West Genoa Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the West Genoa Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Oak Glen Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Oak Glen Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Oak Glen Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Rathbun & Chase Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rathbun & Chase Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rathbun & Chase Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Poplar Ridge Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Poplar Ridge Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Poplar Ridge Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (465 more) ...
    • St. Patricks Cemetery
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Patricks Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Patricks Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Sherwood Cemetery
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sherwood Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sherwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Old Quaker Cemetery
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old Quaker Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old Quaker 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.<4>

While we didn't find Black Rock in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Black Rock.

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

  • Ledyard
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Willets
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Willets. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willets
    • Willets is located in Cayuga County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Willets
    • From Black Rock to Willets
  • Sheldrake
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sheldrake have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sheldrake
    • Sheldrake is located in Seneca County
  • Poplar Ridge
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Aurora
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Atwaters
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Venice Center
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Venice Center have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Venice Center
    • Venice Center is located in Cayuga County
  • Scipioville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Lake Ridge
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Lake Ridge. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Ridge
    • Lake Ridge is located in Tompkins County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Lake Ridge
    • From Black Rock to Lake Ridge
  • Five Corners
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Five Corners have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Corners
    • Five Corners is located in Cayuga County
  • Genoa
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Genoa have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Genoa
    • Genoa is located in Cayuga County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Genoa <2>
  • Levanna
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Levanna have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Levanna
    • Levanna is located in Cayuga County
  • Continue List   (17 more) ...
    • Merrifield
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Merrifield have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merrifield
      • Merrifield is located in Cayuga County
    • East Varick
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Ovid
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)

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

Newspapers Published in Black Rock ...

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 89 newspapers that have been published in the area around Black Rock.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Black Rock, there are papers which were published within 16 miles [25.7 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Black Rock.

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 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 Black Rock:

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

The official website for Cayuga County: www.co.cayuga.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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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>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 Black Rock, 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Black Rock) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Black Rock. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.7036, Longitude: -76.6595    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025