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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 River (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 River. 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 River ...

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 River: E. River

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 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 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.

East River 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 East River. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to East River:

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

Cemeteries Near East River ...

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

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

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

  • East Homer Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the East Homer Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the East Homer Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Sessions Hill Neighborhood Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • 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.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Glenwood Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • McGraw Rural Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • McGrawville Rural Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • 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.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Marys Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • 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.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Cortland Rural Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] 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.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Blodgett Mills Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • 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.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Forest Hill Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • 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.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Atwood Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Atwood Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Atwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Atwater Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • 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.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Old Presbyterian Church Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • 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.
  • Continue List   (481 more) ...
    • Elmwood Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • 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.
    • Maplewood Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Maplewood Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Maplewood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Cheningo Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cheningo Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Cheningo 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 East River had a population of 42 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service.

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

  • East Homer
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • Homer
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Little York
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Cortland
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Blodgett Mills
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Blodgett Mills have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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 <1>
  • Preble
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Solon
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • 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 East River to Solon
  • Cheningo
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cheningo have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cheningo
    • Cheningo is located in Cortland County
  • Truxton
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • East Scott
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • 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 East River to East Scott
  • South Cortland
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Cortland have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Cortland
    • South Cortland is located in Cortland County
  • Crains Mills
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Groton City
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Groton City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Groton City
      • Groton City is located in Tompkins County
    • Scott
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Freetown Corners
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Freetown Corners have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freetown Corners
      • Freetown Corners is located in Cortland County

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

Newspapers Published in East River ...

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 97 newspapers that have been published in the area around East River.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of East River, there are papers which were published within 17 miles [27.4 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for East River.

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 River:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for East River. 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>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 East River, 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- East River) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in East River. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.6496, Longitude: -76.1236       In this case, the coordinates for East River have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025