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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 East Lansing (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 East Lansing. 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 East Lansing ...

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.

For example, a typical abbreviation for East Lansing: E. Landing

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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors 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.

East Lansing is located in Tompkins 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 Tompkins County: Cayuga, Chemung, Cortland, Schuyler, Seneca & Tioga.

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

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

Cemeteries Near East Lansing ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of East Lansing.

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

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

  • Lanterman Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lanterman Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lanterman Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • East Lansing Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the East Lansing Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the East Lansing Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Cobb Street Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cobb Street Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Cobb Street Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Kelley Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Kelley Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Kelley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • North Lansing Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Stearns Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Stearns Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Stearns Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Pine Grove Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pine Grove Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pine Grove Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Asbury Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Asbury Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Asbury Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Bower Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bower Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bower Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Miller Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Miller Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Miller Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Brown Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Brown Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Brown Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Edsall Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Edsall Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Edsall Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (441 more) ...
    • Edsall Cemetery
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Edsall Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Edsall Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Lansingville Cemetery
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lansingville Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lansingville Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Peruville Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Peruville Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Peruville 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.<5>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, East Lansing had a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Midway
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Midway have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Midway
    • Midway is located in Tompkins County
  • South Lansing
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Lansing have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Lansing
    • South Lansing is located in Tompkins County
  • West Groton
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Ludlowville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ludlowville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ludlowville
    • Ludlowville is located in Tompkins County
  • Asbury
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Asbury have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Asbury
    • Asbury is located in Tompkins County
  • North Lansing
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Myers
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Myers. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Myers
    • Myers is located in Tompkins County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Myers
    • From East Lansing to Myers
  • West Dryden
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Dryden have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Dryden
    • West Dryden is located in Tompkins County
  • Lansingville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lansingville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lansingville
    • Lansingville is located in Tompkins County
  • Willow Creek
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • East Genoa
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Peruville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Peruville. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peruville
    • Peruville is located in Tompkins County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Peruville
    • From East Lansing to Peruville
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in East Lansing ...

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 51 newspapers that have been published in the area around East Lansing.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of East Lansing, 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 East Lansing.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin 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 East Lansing:

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

The official website for Tompkins County: www.co.tompkins.ny.us/

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<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>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 East Lansing, 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- East Lansing) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in East Lansing. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.5684, Longitude: -76.4692       In this case, the coordinates for East Lansing have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025