RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of New York >> Suffolk County >> Centerville >> 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 Centerville (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 Centerville. 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 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.

Centerville 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 Centerville. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Centerville:

  • Suffolk County     (The home county of Centerville)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Centerville, with the one closest to Centerville listed first.
    • Foxwood Village
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Foxwood Village is located in Suffolk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foxwood Village
    • Baiting Hollow
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Luce Landing
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Luce Landing is located in Suffolk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Luce Landing
    • Northville
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Northville is located in Suffolk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Northville
    • Glenwood Village
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Glenwood Village is located in Suffolk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenwood Village
    • Aquebogue
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Riverhead
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jamesport
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Northampton
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • Northampton is located in Suffolk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Northampton
    • Pine Valley
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • Pine Valley is located in Suffolk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Valley
    • Flanders
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Calverton
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Laurel
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Fairfield County (CT)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Centerville, with the one closest to Centerville listed first.
    • Stratford
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Stratford is located in Fairfield County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stratford
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 51,660 people
    • Stratford
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Oronoque
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Oronoque is located in Fairfield County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oronoque
    • Bridgeport
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • 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>
    • Black Rock
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Black Rock is located in Fairfield County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Black Rock
    • Bridgeport
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Bridgeport is located in Fairfield County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bridgeport
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 143,525 people
    • Nichols
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Nichols is located in Fairfield County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nichols
  • Middlesex County (CT)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Centerville, with the one closest to Centerville listed first.
    • Clinton
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Grove Beach
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Grove Beach is located in Middlesex County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grove Beach
    • Clinton
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Clinton is located in Middlesex County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clinton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 12,881 people
    • Plum Bank Beach
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Plum Bank Beach is located in Middlesex County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plum Bank Beach
    • Westbrook
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Westbrook is located in Middlesex County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westbrook
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,842 people
    • Westbrook
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Saybrook Manor
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Saybrook Manor is located in Middlesex County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saybrook Manor
    • Killingworth
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Fenwick
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Fenwick is located in Middlesex County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fenwick
    • Old Saybrook
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Old Saybrook is located in Middlesex County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Saybrook
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 10,028 people
    • Old Saybrook
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Centerbrook
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Deep River
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Deep River is located in Middlesex County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deep River
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,419 people
  • New Haven County (CT)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Centerville, with the one closest to Centerville listed first.
    • Stony Creek
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Stony Creek is located in New Haven County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stony Creek
    • East River
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • East River is located in New Haven County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East River
    • Madison
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Pine Orchard
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Pine Orchard is located in New Haven County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Orchard
    • Short Beach
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Short Beach is located in New Haven County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Short Beach
    • Branford
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Branford is located in New Haven County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Branford
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 27,736 people
    • Branford
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Guilford
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • East Haven
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • East Haven
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • East Haven is located in New Haven County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Haven
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 28,454 people
    • Guilford
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Guilford is located in New Haven County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Guilford
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 22,043 people
    • West Haven
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Fair Haven
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Fair Haven is located in New Haven County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fair Haven
  • New London County (CT)
    • Old Lyme
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Centerville ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Centerville.

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

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

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

  • Baiting Hollow Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
  • Riverhead Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • St. Johns Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Northville Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Sound Ave. Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Aquebogue Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Jamesport Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Calverton National Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Wells Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Laurel Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Wading River Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Robinson & Gordon Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (243 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 Centerville in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Centerville.

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

  • Baiting Hollow
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
  • Riverhead
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Aquebogue
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Calverton
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Flanders
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Jamesport
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Wading River
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Manorville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Mattituck
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Eastport
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Eastport is located in Suffolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eastport
  • Speonk
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Westhampton
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • East Quogue
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • East Moriches
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Quogue
      (11 miles [17.7 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 Centerville. See our List of 1890's Communities around Centerville.

Newspapers Published in Centerville ...

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 128 newspapers that have been published in the area around Centerville.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Centerville, there are papers which were published within 21 miles [33.8 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Centerville.

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 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 Centerville:

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 Centerville, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Centerville) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.