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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 Plessis (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 Plessis. 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 northwest 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 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.

Plessis is located in Jefferson 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 Jefferson County: Lewis, Oswego & Saint Lawrence.

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

  • Jefferson County     (The home county of Plessis)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Plessis, with the one closest to Plessis listed first.
    • Browns Corners
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Browns Corners is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Browns Corners
    • Redwood
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Theresa
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Theresa is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Theresa
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 766 people
    • Alexandria Bay
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Orleans Four Corners
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • Orleans Four Corners is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orleans Four Corners
    • Omar
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Omar is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Omar
    • La Fargeville
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Thousand Island Park
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Murray Isle
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Philadelphia
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Oxbow
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Clayton
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Lewis County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Plessis, with the one closest to Plessis listed first.
    • Lake Bonaparte
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Lake Bonaparte is located in Lewis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Bonaparte
    • Harrisville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Copenhagen
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Denmark
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Denmark is located in Lewis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Denmark
    • Forest City
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Forest City is located in Lewis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest City
  • Saint Lawrence County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Plessis, with the one closest to Plessis listed first.
    • Schermerhorn Landing
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
      • Schermerhorn Landing is located in Saint Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Schermerhorn Landing
    • Wegatchie
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
      • Wegatchie is located in Saint Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wegatchie
    • Somerville
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
      • Somerville is located in Saint Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Somerville
    • Hammond
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Hammond is located in Saint Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hammond
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 270 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hammond <1>
    • North Hammond
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • North Hammond is located in Saint Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Hammond
    • Elmdale
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Elmdale is located in Saint Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elmdale
    • Gouverneur
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Brier Hill
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Pope Mills
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Pope Mills is located in Saint Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pope Mills
    • Morristown
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Richville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Talcville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Talcville is located in Saint Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Talcville

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

Cemeteries Near Plessis ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Plessis.

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 Plessis - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Redwood Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Hill Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Hinman Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • St. Cyriel Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Highland Park Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Barnes Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Orleans Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • McDonald Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Church Street Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Houghton Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Omar Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Beech Ridge Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (163 more) ...

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 Plessis had a population of 290 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Redwood
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Theresa
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Theresa is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Theresa
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 766 people
  • Orleans Four Corners
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Orleans Four Corners is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orleans Four Corners
  • Alexandria Bay
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Omar
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Omar is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Omar
  • La Fargeville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Fishers Landing
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Thousand Island Park
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Philadelphia
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
  • South Hammond
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • South Hammond is located in Saint Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Hammond
  • Clayton
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Oxbow
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Stone Mills
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Stone Mills is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stone Mills
    • Evans Mills
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Rossie
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Rossie is located in Saint Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rossie

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Plessis ...

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 89 newspapers that have been published in the area around Plessis.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Plessis. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Plessis and those printed in the larger area surrounding Plessis.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 20 miles [32.2 km]<4> of Plessis.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 Plessis:

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>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 Plessis, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Plessis) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.