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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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.

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 northwest 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 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.

Great River is located in Suffolk County.

To see how the shape of New York's counties may 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)
      • North Great River is located in Suffolk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Great River
    • Oakdale
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • East Islip
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • East Islip is located in Suffolk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Islip
    • Islip Terrace
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Islip
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • West Sayville
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • West Sayville is located in Suffolk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Sayville
    • 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)
    • Brightwaters
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • 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)
      • East Massapequa is located in Nassau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Massapequa
    • South Farmingdale
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • South Farmingdale is located in Nassau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Farmingdale
    • Farmingdale
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Massapequa Park
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • North Massapequa
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • North Massapequa is located in Nassau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Massapequa
    • Old Bethpage
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Biltmore Shores
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Biltmore Shores is located in Nassau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Biltmore Shores
    • Harbor Green
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Harbor Green is located in Nassau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harbor Green
    • Massapequa
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Plainview
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Bethpage
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Plainedge
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Plainedge is located in Nassau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plainedge
  • 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)
    • Little Neck
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
    • Queens Village
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
    • Rosedale
      (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)
      • Compo is located in Fairfield County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Compo
    • Greens Farms
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Darien
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Darien is located in Fairfield County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Darien
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 21,693 people
    • Rowayton
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Shippan Point
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Shippan Point is located in Fairfield County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shippan Point
    • Fairfield
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Saugatuck
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Saugatuck is located in Fairfield County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saugatuck
    • Darien
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • East Norwalk
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • East Norwalk is located in Fairfield County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Norwalk
    • Noroton
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Noroton is located in Fairfield County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Noroton
    • Norwalk
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Norwalk is located in Fairfield County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Norwalk
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 88,655 people
    • Old Greenwich
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)

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

Although we don't have the information ourselves, if you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our list of websites on our Genealogy Helper Page for Great River - one of the links might be able to help.

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)
  • St. Ann's Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Union Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • St. Lawrence Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Bohemia Union Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • St. Patricks Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Oakwood Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • First Methodist Church Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Calvary Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • St. Johns Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Blue Point Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (193 more) ...

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.<3>

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)
    • West Sayville is located in Suffolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Sayville
  • 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)
  • 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)
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Patchogue
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Holbrook
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • 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.

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]<4>. 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 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 Great River:

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 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.
<3>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.
<4>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Great River) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.