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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 Great 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 Great 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 Great 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 Great River: Great Riv.

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

Great River is located in Suffolk County.

To see how the shape of New York's counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

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

  • Suffolk County     (The home county of Great River)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Great River, with the one closest to Great River listed first.
    • North Great River
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Great River have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Great River
      • North Great River is located in Suffolk County
    • Oakdale
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oakdale have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakdale
      • Oakdale is located in Suffolk County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Oakdale <2>
    • East Islip
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Islip
      • East Islip is located in Suffolk County
    • Islip Terrace
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Islip Terrace have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Islip Terrace
      • Islip Terrace is located in Suffolk County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Islip Terrace <2>
    • Islip
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • West Sayville
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Sayville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Sayville
      • West Sayville is located in Suffolk County
    • Bohemia
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Sayville
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Bay Shore
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Bayport
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Central Islip
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Fire Island
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fire Island have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fire Island
      • Fire Island is located in Suffolk County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fire Island <2>
    • Brightwaters
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brightwaters have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brightwaters
      • Brightwaters is located in Suffolk County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,050 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Brightwaters <2>
  • Nassau County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Great River, with the one closest to Great River listed first.
    • East Massapequa
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Massapequa have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Massapequa
      • East Massapequa is located in Nassau County
    • South Farmingdale
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Farmingdale have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Farmingdale
      • South Farmingdale is located in Nassau County
    • Farmingdale
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Massapequa Park
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Massapequa Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Massapequa Park
      • Massapequa Park is located in Nassau County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 17,034 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Massapequa Park <2>
    • North Massapequa
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Massapequa have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Massapequa
      • North Massapequa is located in Nassau County
    • Old Bethpage
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Old Bethpage have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Bethpage
      • Old Bethpage is located in Nassau County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Old Bethpage <2>
    • Biltmore Shores
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Biltmore Shores
      • Biltmore Shores is located in Nassau County
    • Harbor Green
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harbor Green
      • Harbor Green is located in Nassau County
    • Massapequa
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Plainview
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Plainview have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plainview
      • Plainview is located in Nassau County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Plainview <2>
    • Bethpage
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Plainedge
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plainedge
      • Plainedge is located in Nassau County
    • Seaford
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Seaford have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seaford
      • Seaford is located in Nassau County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Seaford <2>
  • Queens County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Great River, with the one closest to Great River listed first.
    • Douglaston
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Douglaston have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Douglaston
      • Douglaston is located in Queens County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Douglaston <2>
    • Little Neck
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
    • Queens Village
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Fairfield County (CT)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Great River, with the one closest to Great River listed first.
    • Compo
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Compo
      • Compo is located in Fairfield County (CT)
    • Greens Farms
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Greens Farms have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greens Farms
      • Greens Farms is located in Fairfield County (CT)
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Greens Farms <2>
    • Darien
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Darien have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Darien
      • Darien is located in Fairfield County (CT)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 21,693 people
    • Rowayton
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rowayton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rowayton
      • Rowayton is located in Fairfield County (CT)
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rowayton <2>
    • Shippan Point
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shippan Point
      • Shippan Point is located in Fairfield County (CT)
    • Fairfield
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Southport
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Darien
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • East Norwalk
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Norwalk
      • East Norwalk is located in Fairfield County (CT)
    • Noroton
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Noroton
      • Noroton is located in Fairfield County (CT)
    • Norwalk
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Norwalk have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Norwalk
      • Norwalk is located in Fairfield County (CT)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 88,655 people
    • Old Greenwich
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • South Norwalk
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Norwalk
      • South Norwalk is located in Fairfield County (CT)

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

Newspapers Published in Great 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 197 newspapers that have been published in the area around Great River.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Great River, there are papers which were published within 17 miles [27.4 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Great River.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 Great River:

Cemeteries Near Great River ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Great 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 Great River covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Old Central Islip Psychiatric Center Patient Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • St. John Nepomucene RC Church Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. John Nepomucene RC Church Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. John Nepomucene RC Church Cemetery
  • St. Ann's Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Ann's Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Ann's Cemetery
  • Union Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • St. Lawrence Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Lawrence Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Lawrence Cemetery
  • Bohemia Union Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • St. Patricks Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Patricks Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Patricks Cemetery
  • Oakwood Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Oakwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Oakwood Cemetery
  • First Methodist Church Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the First Methodist Church Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the First Methodist Church Cemetery
  • Calvary Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • St. Johns Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Johns Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Johns Cemetery
  • Blue Point Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Blue Point Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Blue Point Cemetery
  • Continue List   (193 more) ...
    • Brentwood Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Brentwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Brentwood Cemetery
    • Hauppauge Methodist Episcopal Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hauppauge Methodist Episcopal Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hauppauge Methodist Episcopal Cemetery
    • Lakeview Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lakeview Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lakeview Cemetery

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, Great River had a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Islip
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
  • West Sayville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Sayville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Sayville
    • West Sayville is located in Suffolk County
  • Bohemia
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Sayville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Bay Shore
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Fire Island
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fire Island have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fire Island
    • Fire Island is located in Suffolk County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fire Island <2>
  • Central Islip
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Bayport
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Blue Point
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Ronkonkoma
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Brentwood
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Hauppauge
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hauppauge have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hauppauge
    • Hauppauge is located in Suffolk County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hauppauge <2>
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Patchogue
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Holbrook
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Holbrook have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holbrook
      • Holbrook is located in Suffolk County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Holbrook <2>
    • Babylon
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)

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

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

The official website for Suffolk County: www.co.suffolk.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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Great River) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Great River. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.7212, Longitude: -73.1576       In this case, the coordinates for Great River have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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 Great River, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024