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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 Homer (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 Homer. 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 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.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Homer ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Homer.

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

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

  • Glenwood Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • St. Marys Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • 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.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Atwater Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • 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.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Cortland Rural Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • 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.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Sessions Hill Neighborhood Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • 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.<3> 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.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • East Homer Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] 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.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hinman Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hinman Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hinman Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • McAllister Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the McAllister Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the McAllister Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Forest Hill Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • 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.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Blodgett Mills Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • 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.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • McGraw Rural Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (479 more) ...
    • McGrawville Rural Cemetery
      (5 miles [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.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Gillett Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Gillett Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Gillett Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Eaton Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Eaton Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Eaton 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 Homer had a population of 3,016 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Homer had a population of 3,080 people.

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

  • Cortland
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • East River
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for East River. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East River
    • East River is located in Cortland County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to East River
    • From Homer to East River
  • East Homer
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Little York
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Groton City
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Groton City have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Groton City
    • Groton City is located in Tompkins County
  • South Cortland
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Cortland have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Cortland
    • South Cortland is located in Cortland County
  • Blodgett Mills
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Blodgett Mills have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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>
  • East Scott
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • 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.<2>
    • 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 Homer to East Scott
  • Preble
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Scott
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Summer Hill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • McLean
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (19 more) ...
    • Virgil
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Virgil have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Virgil
      • Virgil is located in Cortland County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Virgil <1>
    • Solon
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
      • 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.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Solon
      • Solon is located in Cortland County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Solon
      • From Homer to Solon
    • Dresserville
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Homer ...

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 111 newspapers that have been published in the area around Homer.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Homer. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Homer and those printed in the larger area surrounding Homer.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 18 miles [29 km]<6> of Homer.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These websites either 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 Homer:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Homer. 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>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.
<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 Homer, 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Homer) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Homer. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.6380, Longitude: -76.1830    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025