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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 Cortland (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 Cortland. 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 doctors and hospitals 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.

Cortland is located in Cortland County and is the County Seat.

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 Cortland County: Broome, Cayuga, Chenango, Madison, Onondaga, Tioga & Tompkins.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Cortland ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Cortland.

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

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

  • Cortland Rural Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cortland Rural Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Cortland Rural Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Marys Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Marys Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Marys Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Glenwood Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • McAllister Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the McAllister Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the McAllister Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Forest Hill Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Forest Hill Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Forest Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Blodgett Mills Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Blodgett Mills Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Blodgett Mills Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • McGraw Rural Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • McGrawville Rural Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the McGrawville Rural Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the McGrawville Rural Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • West Hill Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • 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.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Atwater Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Atwater Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Atwater Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Sessions Hill Neighborhood Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sessions Hill Neighborhood Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sessions Hill Neighborhood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hinman Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hinman Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hinman Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (475 more) ...
    • McLean Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the McLean Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the McLean Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • St. Patricks Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Patricks Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Patricks Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Scofield Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Scofield Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Scofield Cemetery 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 Cortland had a population of 8,590 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Cortland had a population of 18,455 people.

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

  • Homer
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • South Cortland
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Cortland have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Cortland
    • South Cortland is located in Cortland County
  • Blodgett Mills
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Blodgett Mills have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blodgett Mills
    • Blodgett Mills is located in Cortland County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Blodgett Mills <2>
  • East River
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for East River. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East River
    • East River is located in Cortland County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to East River
    • From Cortland to East River
  • Groton City
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Groton City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Groton City
    • Groton City is located in Tompkins County
  • McLean
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Virgil
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Virgil have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Virgil
    • Virgil is located in Cortland County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Virgil <2>
  • East Homer
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Little York
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Summer Hill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • East Virgil
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Virgil have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Virgil
    • East Virgil is located in Cortland County
  • Solon
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Solon. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Solon
    • Solon is located in Cortland County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Solon
    • From Cortland to Solon
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • East Scott
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for East Scott. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Scott
      • East Scott is located in Cortland County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to East Scott
      • From Cortland to East Scott
    • Dryden
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dryden have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dryden
      • Dryden is located in Tompkins County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,996 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Dryden <2>
    • Scott
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Cortland ...

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 112 newspapers that have been published in the area around Cortland.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Cortland. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Cortland and those printed in the larger area surrounding Cortland.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 18 miles [29 km]<6> of Cortland.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we start with 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 Cortland:

The official website for Cortland: www.cortland.org/

The official website for Cortland County: www.cortland-co.org/

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 Cortland, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Cortland) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Cortland. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.6013, Longitude: -76.1805    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025