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 New York (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 New York. 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.
Cemeteries Near New York ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of New York.
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 New York covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from New York, with the one closest to New York listed first.
- First Shearith Israel Graveyard
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the First Shearith Israel Graveyard
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the First Shearith Israel Graveyard have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- St. Paul's Churchyard Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the west)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Paul's Churchyard Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Paul's Churchyard Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Second Cemetery of the Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue
(Less than 2 miles to the north)
- Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
- New York City Marble Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the north)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the New York City Marble Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the New York City Marble Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Trinity Churchyard Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the west)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Trinity Churchyard Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Trinity Churchyard Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Third Cemetery of the Spanish-Portuguese Synagogue
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Third Cemetery of the Spanish-Portuguese Synagogue
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Third Cemetery of the Spanish-Portuguese Synagogue have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Green - Wood Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
- Quaker Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Quaker Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Quaker Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Calvary Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Calvary Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Calvary Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jersey City & Harsimus Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
- Bayview - New York Bay Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Continue List (486 more) ...
- Flatbush Reformed Dutch Church Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Most Holy Trinity Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Trinity Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Trinity Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Trinity 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.<3>
The Rand McNally Atlas shows that New York had a population of 1,515,301 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, New York had a population of 8,253,213 people.
These communities are listed based on their distance from New York, with the one closest to New York listed first.
- Williamsburg
(Less than 2 miles to the east)
- Greenpoint
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
- Jersey City
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
- Brooklyn
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
- Blissville
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Blissville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blissville
- Blissville is located in Queens County
- Long Island City
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
- Hoboken
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- Communipaw
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
- Weehawken
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Weehawken have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weehawken
- Weehawken is located in Hudson County (NJ)
- Flatbush
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Flatbush have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flatbush
- Flatbush is located in Kings County
- Bushwick
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Ridgewood
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Continue List (14 more) ...
- Fresh Pond
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Maspeth
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Manhattan
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around New York. See our List of 1890's Communities around New York.
Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of New York ...
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 2,869 newspapers that have been published in the area around New York.
We have organized these newspapers into two lists:
- A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of New York. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of New York and those printed in the larger area surrounding New York.
- An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 8 miles [12.9 km]<6> of New York.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we 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 New York:
- Websites specific to New York
- Pages specific to Kings County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Bronx County
- Nassau County
- New York County
- Queens County
- Richmond County
- Rockland County
- Suffolk County
- Westchester County
- Fairfield County
- Bergen County
- Essex County
- Hudson County
- Middlesex County
- Monmouth County
- Morris County
- Passaic County
- Somerset County
- Union County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for New York
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for New York: www.nyc.gov/
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> | 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> | 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 New York, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
<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> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
<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- New York) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in New York. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.7097, Longitude: -73.9917 |