RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of New York >> Suffolk County >> Centereach >> Genealogy HelperIndex...

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 Centereach (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 Centereach. 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 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.

Centereach is located in Suffolk County.

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

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

  • Suffolk County     (The home county of Centereach)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Centereach, with the one closest to Centereach listed first.
    • Lake Grove
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Lake Ronkonkoma
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Nesconset
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Selden
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Terryville
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Terryville is located in Suffolk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Terryville
    • Holbrook
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Ronkonkoma
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Saint James
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Head-of-the-Harbor
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Head-of-the-Harbor is located in Suffolk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Head-of-the-Harbor
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,452 people
    • Farmingville
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Holtsville
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • The Branch
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • The Branch is located in Suffolk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for The Branch
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,789 people
      • The Branch has also been known as:
      • Village of the Branch
  • Nassau County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Centereach, with the one closest to Centereach listed first.
    • Laurel Hollow
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Laurel Hollow is located in Nassau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Laurel Hollow
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,027 people
    • Old Bethpage
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Woodbury
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Farmingdale
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • South Farmingdale
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
      • South Farmingdale is located in Nassau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Farmingdale
    • Cove Neck
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Cove Neck is located in Nassau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cove Neck
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 299 people
    • Plainview
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Swedetown Village
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Swedetown Village is located in Nassau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swedetown Village
    • East Massapequa
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • East Massapequa is located in Nassau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Massapequa
    • North Massapequa
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • North Massapequa is located in Nassau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Massapequa
    • Bethpage
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Oyster Bay Cove
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Oyster Bay Cove is located in Nassau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oyster Bay Cove
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,243 people
  • Fairfield County (CT)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Centereach, with the one closest to Centereach listed first.
    • Black Rock
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Black Rock is located in Fairfield County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Black Rock
    • Compo
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Compo is located in Fairfield County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Compo
    • Fairfield
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Greens Farms
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Southport
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Bridgeport
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Bridgeport is located in Fairfield County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bridgeport
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 143,525 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bridgeport <1>
    • Stratford
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Rowayton
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Westport
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Westport is located in Fairfield County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westport
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 28,444 people
    • Bridgeport
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Bridgeport is located in Fairfield County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bridgeport
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 143,525 people
    • Darien
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Darien is located in Fairfield County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Darien
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 21,693 people
    • East Norwalk
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • East Norwalk is located in Fairfield County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Norwalk
  • New Haven County (CT)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Centereach, with the one closest to Centereach listed first.
    • Milford
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Milford is located in New Haven County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milford
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 54,781 people
    • Milford
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Milford is located in New Haven County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milford
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 53,259 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Milford <1>
    • Orange
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Orange is located in New Haven County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orange
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 13,882 people
    • Orange
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • West Haven
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • West Haven is located in New Haven County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Haven
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 54,367 people
    • West Haven
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Short Beach
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Short Beach is located in New Haven County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Short Beach

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

Cemeteries Near Centereach ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Centereach.

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 Centereach - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • New Village Congregation Church Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Newton Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • UMC Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for UMC Cemetery
    • The UMC Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Lake Ronkonkoma Cemetery
    • Methodist Church Cemetery
    • Methodist Episcopal Church Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #65037 <2>
  • Lake Ronkonkoma Cemetery II
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
  • Cenacle Convent Graveyard
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
  • Waverly Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Roe Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Union Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Nassakeage - Hawkins Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Mills Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • St. James Methodist Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • St. James Episcopal Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (282 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.<3>

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

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

  • Lake Grove
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Ronkonkoma
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Holbrook
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Selden
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Terryville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Terryville is located in Suffolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Terryville
  • Saint James
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Holtsville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Hauppauge
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Medford
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Stony Brook
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Coram
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • East Setauket
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Smithtown
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Bohemia
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Port Jefferson
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Centereach ...

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 184 newspapers that have been published in the area around Centereach.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Centereach. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Centereach and those printed in the larger area surrounding Centereach.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 18 miles [29 km]<4> of Centereach.

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 Centereach:

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 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.
<3>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 Centereach, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Centereach) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.