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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 Jacks Reef (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 Jacks Reef. 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 Jacks Reef ...

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.

While the name of this community is Jacks Reef, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Jacks Reef may originally have been Jack's Reef.

Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Jacks Reef might be written as Jack Reef.

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 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.

Jacks Reef is located in Onondaga 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 Onondaga County: Cayuga, Cortland, Madison & Oswego.

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

  • Onondaga County     (The home county of Jacks Reef)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Jacks Reef, with the one closest to Jacks Reef listed first.
    • Memphis
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Jordan
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Warners
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Elbridge
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elbridge have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elbridge
      • Elbridge is located in Onondaga County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 994 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elbridge <2>
    • Halfway
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Halfway. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halfway
      • Halfway is located in Onondaga County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Halfway
      • From Jacks Reef to Halfway
    • Van Buren
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Van Buren have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Van Buren
      • Van Buren is located in Onondaga County
    • Baldwinsville
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Village Green
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Village Green have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Village Green
      • Village Green is located in Onondaga County
    • Seneca Knolls
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Seneca Knolls have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seneca Knolls
      • Seneca Knolls is located in Onondaga County
    • Lysander
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Camillus
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Camillus have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Camillus
      • Camillus is located in Onondaga County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,190 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Camillus <2>
    • Marcellus Falls
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Cayuga County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Jacks Reef, with the one closest to Jacks Reef listed first.
    • Meridian
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Meridian have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meridian
      • Meridian is located in Cayuga County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 285 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Meridian <2>
    • Weedsport
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Weedsport have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weedsport
      • Weedsport is located in Cayuga County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,683 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Weedsport <2>
    • Cato
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cato have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cato
      • Cato is located in Cayuga County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 497 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cato <2>
    • Sennett
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Ira
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Port Byron
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Throop
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Victory
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Victory have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Victory
      • Victory is located in Cayuga County
    • Auburn
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Melrose Park
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Melrose Park have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melrose Park
      • Melrose Park is located in Cayuga County
    • North Victory
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Niles
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
  • Cortland County
  • Madison County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Jacks Reef, with the one closest to Jacks Reef listed first.
    • Bridgeport
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bridgeport have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bridgeport
      • Bridgeport is located in Madison County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bridgeport <2>
    • Bolivar
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bolivar have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bolivar
      • Bolivar is located in Madison County
    • Chittenango
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chittenango have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chittenango
      • Chittenango is located in Madison County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,823 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Chittenango <2>
    • Sullivan
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Sulphur Springs
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Chittenango Falls
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
    • Rippleton
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Ontario County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Jacks Reef, with the one closest to Jacks Reef listed first.
    • Thompson
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Thompson have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thompson
      • Thompson is located in Ontario County
    • West Junius
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Dobbins Corner
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Oswego County
  • Seneca County
  • Wayne County

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

Cemeteries Near Jacks Reef ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Jacks Reef.

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

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

  • Ionia Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ionia Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ionia Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Kingdom Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Kingdom Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Kingdom Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Redman Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Redman Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Redman Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Adams Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Adams Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Adams Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Patricks Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Patricks Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Patricks Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jordan Rural Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jordan Rural Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Jordan Rural Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Whiting Road Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Whiting Road Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Whiting Road Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Maple Grove Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Maple Grove Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Maple Grove Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Oswego Bitter Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Oswego Bitter Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Oswego Bitter Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Sears Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sears Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sears Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mt. Pleasant Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Plainville Rural Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (461 more) ...
    • Elbridge Rural Cemetery
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Elbridge Rural Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Elbridge Rural Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Warners Cemetery
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Warners Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Warners Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Warners Cemetery
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Warners Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Warners 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.<6>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Jacks Reef had a population of 118 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Memphis
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Jordan
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Plainville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Plainville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plainville
    • Plainville is located in Onondaga County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Plainville <2>
  • Elbridge
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elbridge have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elbridge
    • Elbridge is located in Onondaga County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 994 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elbridge <2>
  • Warners
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Halfway
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Halfway. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halfway
    • Halfway is located in Onondaga County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Halfway
    • From Jacks Reef to Halfway
  • Skaneateles Junction
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Skaneateles Junction have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Skaneateles Junction
    • Skaneateles Junction is located in Onondaga County
  • Van Buren
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Van Buren have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Van Buren
    • Van Buren is located in Onondaga County
  • Baldwinsville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Weedsport
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Weedsport have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weedsport
    • Weedsport is located in Cayuga County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,683 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Weedsport <2>
  • Lysander
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Marcellus Falls
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (17 more) ...
    • Camillus
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Camillus have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Camillus
      • Camillus is located in Onondaga County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,190 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Camillus <2>
    • Amboy
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Amboy have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Amboy
      • Amboy is located in Onondaga County
    • Stiles
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stiles have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stiles
      • Stiles is located in Onondaga County

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

Newspapers Published in Jacks Reef ...

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 167 newspapers that have been published in the area around Jacks Reef.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Jacks Reef, there are papers which were published within 15 miles [24.1 km]<7>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Jacks Reef.

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 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 Jacks Reef:

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

The official website for Onondaga County: www.ongov.net/

The official website for State of New York: https://www.ny.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>It's generally believed that possessive apostrophes are removed to prevent confusion on maps where the apostrophe may be confused with a cartographic symbol. While this is generally true, it's not uncommon to find possessive apostrophes in administrative names (such as towns or counties).
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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>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.
<5>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.
<6>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 Jacks Reef, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<7>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Jacks Reef) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Jacks Reef. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.0992, Longitude: -76.4240    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025