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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 Rifton (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 Rifton. 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 and doctors 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.

Rifton is located in Ulster 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 Ulster County: Columbia, Delaware, Dutchess, Greene, Orange & Sullivan.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Rifton ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Rifton.

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

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

  • Rosendale Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rosendale Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rosendale Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Lefever Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lefever Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lefever Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Peters Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
  • Coxing Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Coxing Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Coxing Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Ascension Church Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ascension Church Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ascension Church Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Beaver Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Beaver Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Beaver Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • High Falls Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the High Falls Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the High Falls Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Riverview Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Riverview Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Riverview Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Montrepose Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Fairview Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fairview Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fairview Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hurley Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Benton - Bar Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Benton - Bar Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Benton - Bar Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (204 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.<6>

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

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

  • Lefever Falls
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
  • Creeklocks
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Creeklocks. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Creeklocks
    • Creeklocks is located in Ulster County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Creeklocks
    • From Rifton to Creeklocks
  • Binnewater
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Binnewater. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Binnewater
    • Binnewater is located in Ulster County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Binnewater
    • From Rifton to Binnewater
  • Rosendale
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
  • Whiteport
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Whiteport. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whiteport
    • Whiteport is located in Ulster County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Whiteport
    • From Rifton to Whiteport
  • Esopus
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Esopus have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Esopus
    • Esopus is located in Ulster County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Esopus <2>
  • Ulster Park
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ulster Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ulster Park
    • Ulster Park is located in Ulster County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ulster Park <2>
  • Saint Remy
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint Remy have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Remy
    • Saint Remy is located in Ulster County
  • Cottekill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Springtown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Springtown have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springtown
    • Springtown is located in Ulster County
  • Plutarch
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Plutarch have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plutarch
    • Plutarch is located in Ulster County
  • Marbletown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Marbletown have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marbletown
    • Marbletown is located in Ulster County
  • Continue List   (17 more) ...
    • High Falls
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for High Falls have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High Falls
      • High Falls is located in Ulster County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for High Falls <2>
    • West Park
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Park
      • West Park is located in Ulster County
    • Staatsburg
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)

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

Newspapers Published in Rifton ...

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 127 newspapers that have been published in the area around Rifton.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Rifton, there are papers which were published within 14 miles [22.5 km]<7>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Rifton.

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 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 Rifton:

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

The official website for Ulster County: www.co.ulster.ny.us/

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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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>If we found a location and have questions about the accuracy of our information, we will simply say that the marker is 'in the vicinity'. We are not confident about the location and the position of our marker is only a rough guide. If we have too many doubts about the location, we will not include it in our database.
<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 Rifton, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<7>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 from Point A (ie- Rifton) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Rifton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.8381, Longitude: -74.0404    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025