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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 Columbus (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 Columbus. 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.

Columbus is located in Chenango 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 Chenango County: Broome, Cortland, Delaware, Madison & Otsego.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Columbus ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Columbus.

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

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

  • Columbus Center Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Columbus Center Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Columbus Center Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Carter School House Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Carter School House Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Carter School House Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Campbell Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Campbell Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Campbell Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Gazlay Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Gazlay Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Gazlay Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Columbus Corners Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Perkins Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Perkins Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Perkins Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Tillotson Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Tillotson Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Tillotson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Fairview Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fairview Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fairview Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Andrew's Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Andrew's Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Andrew's Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • North Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the North Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the North Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Howard Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Howard Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Howard Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • East Hill Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the East Hill Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the East Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (453 more) ...
    • Harrisville Cemetery
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Harrisville Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Harrisville Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Dyer Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Dyer Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Dyer Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • South Brookfield Memorial Park
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the South Brookfield Memorial Park
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the South Brookfield Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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 Columbus had a population of 129 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • South Edmeston
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • New Berlin
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Tallette
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tallette have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tallette
    • Tallette is located in Chenango County
  • Pittsfield
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • South Brookfield
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Brookfield have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Brookfield
    • South Brookfield is located in Madison County
  • Edmeston
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • South Hamilton
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Sherburne
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Chenango Lake
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chenango Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chenango Lake
    • Chenango Lake is located in Chenango County
  • West Edmeston
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Edmeston have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Edmeston
    • West Edmeston is located in Otsego County
  • North Edmeston
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Edmeston have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Edmeston
    • North Edmeston is located in Otsego County
  • Sherburne Four Corners
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sherburne Four Corners have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sherburne Four Corners
    • Sherburne Four Corners is located in Chenango County
  • Continue List   (17 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Columbus ...

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 71 newspapers that have been published in the area around Columbus.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Columbus. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Columbus and those printed in the larger area surrounding Columbus.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 19 miles [30.6 km]<6> of Columbus.

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 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 Columbus:

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

The official website for Chenango County: www.co.chenango.ny.us/

The official website for State of New York: https://www.ny.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Columbus, 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- Columbus) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Columbus. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.6841, Longitude: -75.3727    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025