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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 Independence (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 Independence. 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 southwest 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 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.

Independence is located in Allegany 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 Allegany County: Cattaraugus, Livingston, Steuben, Wyoming, McKean (PA) & Potter (PA).

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

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

Cemeteries Near Independence ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Independence.

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

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

  • Independence Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Independence Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Independence Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Pioneer Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pioneer Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pioneer Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • West Union Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the West Union Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the West Union Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Fulmer Valley Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fulmer Valley Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fulmer Valley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hallsport Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hallsport Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hallsport Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Whitesville Rural Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Whitesville Rural Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Whitesville Rural Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hillside Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hillside Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hillside Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Greenwood Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Greenwood Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Greenwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Johns Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Johns Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Johns Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Beech Hill Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Beech Hill Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Beech Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Kenyon Road Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Kenyon Road Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Kenyon Road Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Valley Brook Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Valley Brook Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Valley Brook Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (269 more) ...
    • Atkins Cemetery
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Atkins Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Atkins Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Gate of Heaven Cemetery
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Gate of Heaven Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Gate of Heaven Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Briggs Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)

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 Independence had a population of 152 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • West Union
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Union have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Union
    • West Union is located in Steuben County
  • Fulmer Valley
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fulmer Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fulmer Valley
    • Fulmer Valley is located in Allegany County
  • Hallsport
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hallsport have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hallsport
    • Hallsport is located in Allegany County
  • Whitesville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Andover
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Spring Mills
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Spring Mills have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Mills
    • Spring Mills is located in Allegany County
  • Elm Valley
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Rexville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Dyke
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dyke have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dyke
    • Dyke is located in Allegany County
  • Shongo
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shongo have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shongo
    • Shongo is located in Allegany County
  • North Bingham
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Greenwood
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (19 more) ...
    • Genesee
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Wellsville
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wellsville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wellsville
      • Wellsville is located in Allegany County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,329 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wellsville <1>
    • Bingham Center
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bingham Center have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bingham Center
      • Bingham Center is located in Potter County (PA)

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

Newspapers Published in Independence ...

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 Independence.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Independence, there are papers which were published within 22 miles [35.4 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Independence.

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 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 Independence:

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

The official website for Allegany County: www.alleganyco.com/

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 Independence, 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Independence) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Independence. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.0881, Longitude: -77.7814    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025