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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 Colonial Village (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 Colonial Village. 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 Colonial Village ...

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 occur.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Colonial Village: Colonial Vlg. (in Canada, 'Vlge.' is the more common abbreviation.)

You might be interested in other communities that are also named Colonial Village. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Colonial Village.

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 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.

Colonial Village is located in Niagara 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 Niagara County: Erie, Genesee & Orleans.

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

  • Niagara County     (The home county of Colonial Village)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Colonial Village, with the one closest to Colonial Village listed first.
    • Pletchers Corners
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Pletchers Corners is located in Niagara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pletchers Corners
    • Model City
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Black Creek Village
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Black Creek Village is located in Niagara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Black Creek Village
    • Bergholtz
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Bergholtz is located in Niagara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bergholtz
    • Varsity Village
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Varsity Village is located in Niagara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Varsity Village
    • Dickersonville
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Dickersonville is located in Niagara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dickersonville
    • Pekin
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Pekin is located in Niagara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pekin
    • Lewiston
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Niagara Falls
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Saint Johnsburg
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
      • Saint Johnsburg is located in Niagara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Johnsburg
    • Porter Center
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Porter Center is located in Niagara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Porter Center
    • Ransomville
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Erie County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Colonial Village, with the one closest to Colonial Village listed first.
    • Grandyle Village
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Grandyle Village is located in Erie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grandyle Village
    • Tonawanda
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Ferry Village
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Ferry Village is located in Erie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ferry Village
    • Getzville
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Kenmore
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Amherst
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Swormville
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Swormville is located in Erie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swormville
    • Williamsville
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Wolcottsburg
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
      • Wolcottsburg is located in Erie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wolcottsburg
    • Buffalo
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Clarence Center
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Harris Hill
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Harris Hill is located in Erie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harris Hill
  • Genesee County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Colonial Village, with the one closest to Colonial Village listed first.
    • Amherst
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Amherst is located in Genesee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Amherst
    • Alabama
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Alabama is located in Genesee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alabama
    • Basom
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Indian Falls
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Indian Falls is located in Genesee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Falls
    • Corfu
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
  • Orleans County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Colonial Village, with the one closest to Colonial Village listed first.
    • Jeddo
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Jeddo is located in Orleans County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jeddo
    • Lakewood Village
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Lakewood Village is located in Orleans County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakewood Village
    • Medina
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)

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

Cemeteries Near Colonial Village ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Colonial Village.

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 Colonial Village - one of the links might be able to help.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Colonial Village, with the one closest to Colonial Village 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>

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

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

  • La Salle
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • La Salle is located in Niagara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Salle
  • Bergholtz
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Bergholtz is located in Niagara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bergholtz
  • Niagara Falls
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Sanborn
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Pekin
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Pekin is located in Niagara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pekin
  • Lewiston
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Saint Johnsburg
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Saint Johnsburg is located in Niagara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Johnsburg
  • Shawnee
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Shawnee is located in Niagara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shawnee
  • Beach Ridge
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Beach Ridge is located in Niagara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beach Ridge
  • Ransomville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • North Tonawanda
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • North Tonawanda is located in Niagara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Tonawanda
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 30,050 people
  • Martinsville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Martinsville is located in Niagara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martinsville
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Hoffman
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Hoffman is located in Niagara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hoffman
    • Mapleton
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
      • Mapleton is located in Niagara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mapleton
    • Youngstown
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)

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

Newspapers Published in Colonial Village ...

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 74 newspapers that have been published in the area around Colonial Village.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Colonial Village, there are papers which were published within 14 miles [22.5 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Colonial Village.

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 websites either 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 Colonial Village:

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