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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 Porter Center (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 Porter Center. 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 Porter Center ...

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 Porter Center: Porter Ctr. (or less commonly used: Porter Cen., Porter Cent. or Porter Cntr.)

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 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.

Porter Center 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 Porter Center. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Porter Center:

  • Niagara County     (The home county of Porter Center)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Porter Center, with the one closest to Porter Center listed first.
    • Ransomville
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Harrison Grove
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Dickersonville
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Model City
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Model City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Model City
      • Model City is located in Niagara County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Model City <1>
    • Youngstown
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Youngstown have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Youngstown
      • Youngstown is located in Niagara County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,833 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Youngstown <1>
    • Roosevelt Beach
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Pekin
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Pekin. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pekin
      • Pekin is located in Niagara County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Pekin
      • From Porter Center to Pekin
    • Lewiston
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lewiston have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lewiston
      • Lewiston is located in Niagara County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,572 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lewiston <1>
    • Wilson
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wilson have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilson
      • Wilson is located in Niagara County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,211 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wilson <1>
    • Colonial Village
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Colonial Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colonial Village
      • Colonial Village is located in Niagara County
    • Varsity Village
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Varsity Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Varsity Village
      • Varsity Village is located in Niagara County
    • Bergholtz
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Erie County
  • Genesee County
  • Orleans County

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

Cemeteries Near Porter Center ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Porter Center.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Porter Center, with the one closest to Porter Center 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.<6>

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

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

  • Ransomville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Youngstown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Youngstown have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Youngstown
    • Youngstown is located in Niagara County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,833 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Youngstown <1>
  • Lewiston
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lewiston have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lewiston
    • Lewiston is located in Niagara County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,572 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lewiston <1>
  • Pekin
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Pekin. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pekin
    • Pekin is located in Niagara County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Pekin
    • From Porter Center to Pekin
  • North Ridge
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Ridge have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Ridge
    • North Ridge is located in Niagara County
  • South Wilson
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Wilson have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Wilson
    • South Wilson is located in Niagara County
  • Wilson
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wilson have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilson
    • Wilson is located in Niagara County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,211 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wilson <1>
  • Sanborn
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sanborn have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sanborn
    • Sanborn is located in Niagara County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sanborn <1>
  • East Wilson
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Wilson have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Wilson
    • East Wilson is located in Niagara County
  • Bergholtz
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Shawnee
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shawnee have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shawnee
    • Shawnee is located in Niagara County
  • Warrens Corners
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in Porter Center ...

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 85 newspapers that have been published in the area around Porter Center.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Porter Center, there are papers which were published within 16 miles [25.7 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Porter Center.

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 Porter Center:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Porter Center. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Niagara County: www.niagaracounty.com/

The official website for State of New York: https://www.ny.gov/

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 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.
<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>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- Porter Center) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Porter Center. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.2494, Longitude: -78.9576    
<5>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.
<6>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 Porter Center, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025