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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 Cooks Mill (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 Cooks Mill. 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 Cooks Mill ...

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.

  • A typical abbreviation for Cooks Mill: Cooks Ml. (or less commonly used: Cooks Mll.)
  • While the name of this community is Cooks Mill, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Cooks Mill may originally have been Cook's Mill.

    Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Cooks Mill might be written as Cook Mill.

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

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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.

Cooks Mill is located in Franklin 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 Franklin County: Clinton, Essex, Hamilton & Saint Lawrence.

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

  • Franklin County     (The home county of Cooks Mill)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cooks Mill, with the one closest to Cooks Mill listed first.
    • Chateaugay
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Burke
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Brainardsville
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Constable
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Malone
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Whippleville
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Westville Center
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • Westville Center is located in Franklin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westville Center
    • Bangor
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Fort Covington
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Skerry
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
      • Skerry is located in Franklin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Skerry
    • West Bangor
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
      • West Bangor is located in Franklin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Bangor
    • Brushton
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Bombay
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
  • Clinton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cooks Mill, with the one closest to Cooks Mill listed first.
    • Churubusco
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Harrigan
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Harrigan is located in Clinton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harrigan
    • Ellenburg Center
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Lyon Mountain
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Standish
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Standish is located in Clinton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Standish
    • Altona
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Mooers Forks
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Woods Falls
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Woods Falls is located in Clinton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woods Falls
    • Mooers
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Dannemora
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Sciola
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Sciola is located in Clinton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sciola
    • Moffitsville
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Moffitsville is located in Clinton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moffitsville
    • Clayburg
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Clayburg is located in Clinton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clayburg
  • Saint Lawrence County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cooks Mill, with the one closest to Cooks Mill listed first.
    • Brasher Iron Works
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Brasher Iron Works is located in Saint Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brasher Iron Works
    • Helena
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Rooseveltown
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)

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

Cemeteries Near Cooks Mill ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Cooks Mill.

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 Cooks Mill - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Sandy Knoll Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • Brayton Hollow Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
  • Thayer Corners Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • North Burke Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
  • St. Patricks Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Evergreen Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Howard Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Burke Center Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • St. George Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Mitchell Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • East Side Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Earlville Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (102 more) ...
    • Pike Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Ridgway Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Hillside Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)

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 Cooks Mill in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Cooks Mill.

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

  • Sun
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Sun is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sun
  • Thayer Corners
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Thayer Corners is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thayer Corners
  • Chateaugay
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Burke
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Brainardsville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Trout River
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Trout River is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trout River
  • Churubusco
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Malone
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Whippleville
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Clinton Mills
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Clinton Mills is located in Clinton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clinton Mills
  • Westville Center
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Westville Center is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westville Center
  • Ellenburg Center
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Chasm Falls
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Chasm Falls is located in Franklin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chasm Falls
    • North Bangor
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Ellenburg
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)

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

Newspapers Published in Cooks Mill ...

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 28 newspapers that have been published in the area around Cooks Mill.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Cooks Mill, there are papers which were published within 20 miles [32.2 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Cooks Mill.

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 Cooks Mill:

Footnotes ...

<1>It's generally believed that possessive apostrophes are removed to prevent confusion on maps where the apostrophe may be confused with a cartographic symbol. While this is generally true, it's not uncommon to find possessive apostrophes in administrative names (such as towns or counties).
<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 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.
<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 Cooks Mill, 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Cooks Mill) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.