RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of New York >> Niagara County >> North Tonawanda >> Genealogy HelperIndex...










Learn About
The Commemorative
Quarter for
New York

The Commemorative Quarter for New York





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 North Tonawanda (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 North Tonawanda. 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 North Tonawanda ...

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.

For example, a typical abbreviation for North Tonawanda: N. Tonawanda

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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals 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.

North Tonawanda is located in Niagara 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 Niagara County: Erie, Genesee & Orleans.

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

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

Cemeteries Near North Tonawanda ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of North Tonawanda.

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

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

  • White Haven Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the White Haven Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the White Haven Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • White Chapel Memorial Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the White Chapel Memorial Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the White Chapel Memorial Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Martin's Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Martin's Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Martin's Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Paul Lutheran Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • St. Francis Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • Salem Church Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • City Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • St. Matthews Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Matthews Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Matthews Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Friedens Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Friedens Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Friedens Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Marks Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Marks Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Marks Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mt. Olivet Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Olivet Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Olivet Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Elmlawn Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Elmlawn Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Elmlawn Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (311 more) ...
    • St. Johns Cemetery
      (3 miles [4.8 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.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Acacia Park Cemetery
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Fairmount Cemetery
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fairmount Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fairmount 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 North Tonawanda had a population of 4,793 people in 1895 with railroad service and no post office. In 2020, North Tonawanda had a population of 30,050 people.

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

  • Tonawanda
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Martinsville
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • Hoffman
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Saint Johnsburg
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Beach Ridge
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Beach Ridge have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beach Ridge
    • Beach Ridge is located in Niagara County
  • Getzville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Kenmore
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Bergholtz
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Wendelville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wendelville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wendelville
    • Wendelville is located in Niagara County
  • Eggertsville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Eggertsville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eggertsville
    • Eggertsville is located in Erie County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Eggertsville <3>
  • Snyder
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Snyder have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Snyder
    • Snyder is located in Erie County
  • Pendleton Center
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (18 more) ...
    • Mapleton
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mapleton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mapleton
      • Mapleton is located in Niagara County
    • Shawnee
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shawnee have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shawnee
      • Shawnee is located in Niagara County
    • La Salle
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for La Salle have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Salle
      • La Salle is located in Niagara County

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of North Tonawanda ...

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 100 newspapers that have been published in the area around North Tonawanda.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of North Tonawanda. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of North Tonawanda and those printed in the larger area surrounding North Tonawanda.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 14 miles [22.5 km]<6> of North Tonawanda.

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 North Tonawanda:

The official website for North Tonawanda: www.northtonawanda.org/

The official website for Niagara County: www.niagaracounty.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>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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 North Tonawanda, 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- North Tonawanda) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in North Tonawanda. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.0387, Longitude: -78.8642    









 

Copyright 2025
All Rights Reserved

Thank you for visiting our website.

In closing, please keep in mind that we can not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information on this website, so use with care. We encourage you to double-check the information that is critical to you.

If you've found an error or have additional information that you would like to share, please don't hesitate to write: Click here to contact us.

This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025