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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 Medina (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 Medina. 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 hospitals and 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.

Medina is located in Orleans 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 Orleans County: Genesee, Monroe & Niagara.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Medina ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Medina.

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

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

  • Sacred Heart Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sacred Heart Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sacred Heart Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Marys Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • 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.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Boxwood Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
  • North Shelby Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the North Shelby Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the North Shelby Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Shelby Center Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Shelby Center Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Shelby Center Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hageman Farm Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hageman Farm Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hageman Farm Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Maple Ridge Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Maple Ridge Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Maple Ridge Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Letts Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Letts Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Letts Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Millville Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • West Ridgeway Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the West Ridgeway Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the West Ridgeway Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Bates Road Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Mt. Pleasant Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • 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.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (303 more) ...
    • Weatherwax Cemetery
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Weatherwax Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Weatherwax Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Fletcher Chapel Cemetery
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fletcher Chapel Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fletcher Chapel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Swart Culver Cemetery
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Swart Culver Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Swart Culver Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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 Medina had a population of 4,492 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Medina had a population of 5,584 people.

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

  • Shelby Basin
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shelby Basin have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shelby Basin
    • Shelby Basin is located in Orleans County
  • Millville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Millville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millville
    • Millville is located in Orleans County
  • Ridgeway
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ridgeway have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ridgeway
    • Ridgeway is located in Orleans County
  • West Shelby
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Shelby have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Shelby
    • West Shelby is located in Orleans County
  • East Shelby
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Shelby have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Shelby
    • East Shelby is located in Orleans County
  • Knowlesville Station
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Knowlesville Station have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knowlesville Station
    • Knowlesville Station is located in Orleans County
  • Knowlesville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Knowlesville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knowlesville
    • Knowlesville is located in Orleans County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Knowlesville <2>
  • Oak Orchard
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oak Orchard have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Orchard
    • Oak Orchard is located in Orleans County
  • Jeddo
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Middleport
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Eagle Harbor Station
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Eagle Harbor Station have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagle Harbor Station
    • Eagle Harbor Station is located in Orleans County
  • North Ridgeway
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Ridgeway have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Ridgeway
    • North Ridgeway is located in Orleans County
  • Continue List   (17 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Medina ...

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 53 newspapers that have been published in the area around Medina.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Medina. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Medina and those printed in the larger area surrounding Medina.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 19 miles [30.6 km]<6> of Medina.

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 Medina:

The official website for Medina: www.villagemedina.org/

The official website for Orleans County: www.orleansny.com/

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>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.
<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 Medina, 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Medina) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Medina. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.2204, Longitude: -78.3869    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025