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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 Cottons (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 Cottons. 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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most 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.

Cottons is located in Madison 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 Madison County: Chenango, Cortland, Oneida, Onondaga, Oswego & Otsego.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Cottons ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Cottons.

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

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

  • Cranson Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cranson Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Cranson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Lenox Rural Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • Perryville Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Perryville Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Perryville Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Clockville Rural Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Clockville Rural Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Clockville Rural Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Agatha Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Mt. Pleasant Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Allis Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Allis Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Allis Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Ballou Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ballou Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ballou Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Munger Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Munger Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Munger Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Roberts Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Roberts Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Roberts Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Sullivan Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sullivan Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sullivan Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Walnut Grove Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Walnut Grove Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Walnut Grove Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (423 more) ...
    • Oakwood Cemetery
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Harrington Cemetery
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Harrington Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Harrington Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • St. Agnes Cemetery
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Agnes Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Agnes Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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 in 1895, Cottons had a post office and railroad service.

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

  • Clockville
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
  • Perryville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Perryville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Perryville
    • Perryville is located in Madison County
  • East Boston
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Boston have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Boston
    • East Boston is located in Madison County
  • Canastota
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Fenner
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fenner have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fenner
    • Fenner is located in Madison County
  • Wampsville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Chittenango
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chittenango have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chittenango
    • Chittenango is located in Madison County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,823 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Chittenango <1>
  • Chittenango Falls
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Merrillsville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Merrillsville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merrillsville
    • Merrillsville is located in Madison County
  • Bingley
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Whitelaw
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Whitelaw. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whitelaw
    • Whitelaw is located in Madison County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Whitelaw
    • From Cottons to Whitelaw
  • Oneida
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Durhamville
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Durhamville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Durhamville
      • Durhamville is located in Oneida County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Durhamville <1>
    • Mycenae
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Mycenae. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mycenae
      • Mycenae is located in Onondaga County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Mycenae
      • From Cottons to Mycenae
    • Oran
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oran have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oran
      • Oran is located in Onondaga County

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

Newspapers Published in Cottons ...

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 94 newspapers that have been published in the area around Cottons.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Cottons, there are papers which were published within 15 miles [24.1 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Cottons.

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 professional and volunteer 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 Cottons:

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

The official website for Madison County: www.madisoncounty.org/

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

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 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.
<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 Cottons, 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- Cottons) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Cottons. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.0416, Longitude: -75.7827    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025