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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 Model City (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 Model City. 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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.

Model City is located in Niagara County.

To see how the shape of New York's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Niagara County: Erie, Genesee & Orleans.

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

  • Niagara County     (The home county of Model City)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Model City, with the one closest to Model City listed first.
    • Dickersonville
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Dickersonville is located in Niagara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dickersonville
    • Lewiston
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Colonial Village
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Colonial Village is located in Niagara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colonial Village
    • Porter Center
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Porter Center is located in Niagara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Porter Center
    • Pletchers Corners
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Pletchers Corners is located in Niagara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pletchers Corners
    • Varsity Village
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Varsity Village is located in Niagara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Varsity Village
    • Pekin
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Pekin is located in Niagara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pekin
    • Ransomville
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Youngstown
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Harrison Grove
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Harrison Grove is located in Niagara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harrison Grove
    • Bergholtz
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Bergholtz is located in Niagara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bergholtz
    • Niagara Falls
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Black Creek Village
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
      • Black Creek Village is located in Niagara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Black Creek Village
  • Erie County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Model City, with the one closest to Model City listed first.
    • Tonawanda
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Grandyle Village
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
      • Grandyle Village is located in Erie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grandyle Village
    • Ferry Village
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Ferry Village is located in Erie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ferry Village
    • Getzville
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Kenmore
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Amherst
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Swormville
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Swormville is located in Erie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swormville
    • Williamsville
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Wolcottsburg
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Wolcottsburg is located in Erie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wolcottsburg
    • Buffalo
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Clarence Center
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Harris Hill
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Harris Hill is located in Erie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harris Hill
    • Bowmansville
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Genesee County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Model City, with the one closest to Model City listed first.
    • Amherst
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Amherst is located in Genesee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Amherst
    • Alabama
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Alabama is located in Genesee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alabama
    • Basom
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
  • Orleans County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Model City, with the one closest to Model City listed first.
    • Jeddo
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Jeddo is located in Orleans County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jeddo
    • Lakewood Village
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Lakewood Village is located in Orleans County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakewood Village
    • Medina
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)

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

Cemeteries Near Model City ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Model City.

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 Model City - one of the links might be able to help.

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Model City covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

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.<4>

While we didn't find Model City in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Model City.

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

  • Lewiston
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
  • Sanborn
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Pekin
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Pekin is located in Niagara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pekin
  • Ransomville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Youngstown
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Niagara Falls
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Bergholtz
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Bergholtz is located in Niagara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bergholtz
  • La Salle
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • La Salle is located in Niagara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Salle
  • Saint Johnsburg
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Saint Johnsburg is located in Niagara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Johnsburg
  • Shawnee
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Shawnee is located in Niagara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shawnee
  • North Ridge
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • North Ridge is located in Niagara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Ridge
  • South Wilson
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • South Wilson is located in Niagara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Wilson
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Beach Ridge
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Beach Ridge is located in Niagara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beach Ridge
    • Mapleton
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Mapleton is located in Niagara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mapleton
    • North Tonawanda
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • North Tonawanda is located in Niagara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Tonawanda
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 30,050 people

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Model City ...

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 74 newspapers that have been published in the area around Model City.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Model City. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Model City and those printed in the larger area surrounding Model City.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 14 miles [22.5 km]<3> of Model City.

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 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 Model City:

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>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- Model City) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<4>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 Model City, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.