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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 Forest Home (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 Forest Home. 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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Forest Home ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Forest Home.

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

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

  • East Lawn Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the East Lawn Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the East Lawn Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Pleasant Grove Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
  • Ithaca City Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ithaca City Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ithaca City Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Ithaca City Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ithaca City Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ithaca City Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mt. Olivet Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Olivet Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Olivet Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Lake View Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Calvary Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Kings Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Kings Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Kings Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • South Hill Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the South Hill Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the South Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Brown Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • 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.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • West Hill Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • 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.
  • Inlet Valley Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Inlet Valley Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Inlet Valley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (412 more) ...
    • Roe Cemetery
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Roe Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Roe Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Etna Community Cemetery
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Etna Community Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Etna Community Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Asbury Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • 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.<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 Forest Home had a population of 124 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Ithaca
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Varna
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
  • McKinneys
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for McKinneys have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McKinneys
    • McKinneys is located in Tompkins County
  • Besemer
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Ellis
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ellis have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ellis
    • Ellis is located in Tompkins County
  • Etna
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Etna have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Etna
    • Etna is located in Tompkins County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Etna <2>
  • Asbury
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Asbury have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Asbury
    • Asbury is located in Tompkins County
  • West Dryden
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Dryden have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Dryden
    • West Dryden is located in Tompkins County
  • Midway
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Midway have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Midway
    • Midway is located in Tompkins County
  • Danby
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Danby have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Danby
    • Danby is located in Tompkins County
  • South Lansing
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Lansing have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Lansing
    • South Lansing is located in Tompkins County
  • Caroline Depot
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Caroline Depot have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Caroline Depot
    • Caroline Depot is located in Tompkins County
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Myers
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • 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.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Myers
      • Myers is located in Tompkins County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Myers
      • From Forest Home to Myers
    • Slaterville Springs
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Ludlowville
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ludlowville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ludlowville
      • Ludlowville is located in Tompkins County

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

Newspapers Published in Forest Home ...

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 43 newspapers that have been published in the area around Forest Home.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Forest Home, there are papers which were published within 18 miles [29 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Forest Home.

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 helpful 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 Forest Home:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Forest Home. 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>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 Forest Home, 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Forest Home) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Forest Home. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.4533, Longitude: -76.4700    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 15 Jul 2025