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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 Coopers Plains (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 Coopers Plains. 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 Coopers Plains ...

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 have occurred.

  • A typical abbreviation for Coopers Plains: Coopers Plns.
  • While the name of this community is Coopers Plains, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Coopers Plains may originally have been Cooper's Plains.

    Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Coopers Plains might be written as Cooper Plains.

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 southeast 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 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.

Coopers Plains is located in Steuben 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 Steuben County: Allegany, Chemung, Livingston, Ontario, Schuyler, Yates, Potter (PA) & Tioga (PA).

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

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

Cemeteries Near Coopers Plains ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Coopers Plains.

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

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

  • Coopers Plains Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Coopers Plains Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Coopers Plains Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Chapel Knoll Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • Balcom Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Balcom Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Balcom Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • High Street Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the High Street Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the High Street Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • West High Street Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Fairview Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • 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.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Nute Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Nute Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Nute Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • East Campbell Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the East Campbell Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the East Campbell Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hope Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hope Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hope Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Erwins Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Erwins Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Erwins Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Pritchard Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • West Hill Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the West Hill Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the West Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (366 more) ...
    • Jones - Erwin Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jones - Erwin Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Jones - Erwin Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #64980 <5>
    • Hope Cemetery Annex
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hope Cemetery Annex
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hope Cemetery Annex have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Duvall Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Duvall Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Duvall Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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.<6>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Coopers Plains had a population of 296 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service.

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

  • Painted Post
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
  • East Campbell
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • Curtis
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Curtis have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Curtis
    • Curtis is located in Steuben County
  • Corning
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Campbell
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Addison
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Presho
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Gibson
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gibson have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gibson
    • Gibson is located in Steuben County
  • Ferenbaugh
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ferenbaugh have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ferenbaugh
    • Ferenbaugh is located in Steuben County
  • Dyke
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dyke have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dyke
    • Dyke is located in Steuben County
  • Thurston
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Thurston have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thurston
    • Thurston is located in Steuben County
  • East Corning
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Corning have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Corning
    • East Corning is located in Steuben County
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Savona
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • South Bradford
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • South Addison
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Addison have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Addison
      • South Addison is located in Steuben County

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

Newspapers Published in Coopers Plains ...

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 75 newspapers that have been published in the area around Coopers Plains.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Coopers Plains, there are papers which were published within 20 miles [32.2 km]<7>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Coopers Plains.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These 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 Coopers Plains:

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

The official website for Steuben County: www.steubencony.org/

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

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 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.
<4>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.
<5>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.
<6>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 Coopers Plains, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<7>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- Coopers Plains) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Coopers Plains. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.1823, Longitude: -77.1414    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025