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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 Cummings Crossing (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 Cummings Crossing. 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 Cummings Crossing ...

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 Cummings Crossing: Cummings Xing.
  • While the name of this community is Cummings Crossing, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Cummings Crossing may originally have been Cumming's Crossing.

    Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Cummings Crossing might be written as Cumming Crossing.

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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.

Cummings Crossing is located in Cortland 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 Cortland County: Broome, Cayuga, Chenango, Madison, Onondaga, Tioga & Tompkins.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Cummings Crossing ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Cummings Crossing.

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

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

  • St. Leo Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Leo Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Leo Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Farr Burying Ground
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Farr Burying Ground
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Farr Burying Ground have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Old Presbyterian Church Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old Presbyterian Church Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old Presbyterian Church Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Tully Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • Elmwood Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Elmwood Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Elmwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Miles - Mighells Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Miles - Mighells Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Miles - Mighells Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Bromley Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bromley Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bromley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Brook Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Brook Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Brook Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Meeker Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Meeker Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Meeker Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Vesper Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Vesper Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Vesper Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Gillett Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Gillett Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Gillett Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Apulia Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Apulia Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Apulia Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (477 more) ...
    • Otisco Valley Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Otisco Valley Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Otisco Valley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Cold Brook Valley Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cold Brook Valley Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Cold Brook Valley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Christian Hollow Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Christian Hollow Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Christian Hollow 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.<6>

While we didn't find Cummings Crossing in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Cummings Crossing.

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

  • Tully
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tully have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tully
    • Tully is located in Onondaga County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 849 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Tully <3>
  • Tully Lake Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tully Lake Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tully Lake Park
    • Tully Lake Park is located in Onondaga County
  • Preble
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Apulia Station
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Apulia Station have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Apulia Station
    • Apulia Station is located in Onondaga County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Apulia Station <3>
  • Apulia
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Apulia. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Apulia
    • Apulia is located in Onondaga County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Apulia
    • From Cummings Crossing to Apulia
  • South Spafford
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Spafford have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Spafford
    • South Spafford is located in Onondaga County
  • East Scott
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Little York
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Scott
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Truxton
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Collingwood
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Collingwood have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Collingwood
    • Collingwood is located in Onondaga County
  • Otisco Valley
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in Cummings Crossing ...

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 77 newspapers that have been published in the area around Cummings Crossing.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Cummings Crossing, there are papers which were published within 17 miles [27.4 km]<7>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Cummings Crossing.

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 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 Cummings Crossing:

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

The official website for Cortland County: www.cortland-co.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>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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Cummings Crossing, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<7>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Cummings Crossing) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Cummings Crossing. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.7743, Longitude: -76.1197    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025