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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 Rural Hill (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 Rural Hill. 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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.

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

  • Jefferson County     (The home county of Rural Hill)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rural Hill, with the one closest to Rural Hill listed first.
    • Belleville
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Woodville
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Woodville is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodville
    • Jefferson Park
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Jefferson Park is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jefferson Park
    • Henderson
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Ellisburg
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Lyon Corner
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Lyon Corner is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyon Corner
    • Adams
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Adams is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Adams
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,687 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Adams <1>
    • Mannsville
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Boultons Beach
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • Boultons Beach is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boultons Beach
    • Adams Center
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Lorraine
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Sackets Harbor
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Alverson
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Alverson is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alverson
  • Lewis County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rural Hill, with the one closest to Rural Hill listed first.
    • Barnes Corners
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
      • Barnes Corners is located in Lewis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barnes Corners
    • New Boston
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • New Boston is located in Lewis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Boston
    • Rector
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Rector is located in Lewis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rector
    • Copenhagen
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Parkers
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Parkers is located in Lewis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parkers
    • Harrisburg
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Harrisburg is located in Lewis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harrisburg
    • Denmark
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Denmark is located in Lewis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Denmark
    • Osceola
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Osceola is located in Lewis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Osceola
  • Oswego County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rural Hill, with the one closest to Rural Hill listed first.
    • Lacona
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Sandy Creek
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Smartville
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Smartville is located in Oswego County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smartville
    • Pulaski
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Richland
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Daysville Corner
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • Daysville Corner is located in Oswego County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Daysville Corner
    • Orwell
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Daysville
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Daysville is located in Oswego County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Daysville
    • Chateaugay
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Chateaugay is located in Oswego County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chateaugay
    • Texas
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Texas is located in Oswego County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Texas
    • Arthur
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Arthur is located in Oswego County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arthur
    • Altmar
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Albion Center
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Albion Center is located in Oswego County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Albion Center

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

Cemeteries Near Rural Hill ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Rural Hill.

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 Rural Hill - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Gallea Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Bigelow Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
  • Mixer Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
  • Stowles Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Clark Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • Carpenter Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Evergreen Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • St. Johns Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Bishop Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Saxe Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Grow Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Giddingsville Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (165 more) ...
    • North Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Elmwood Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Brewster Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)

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.<2>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Rural Hill had a population of 38 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Woodville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Woodville is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodville
  • Belleville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Henderson
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Ellisburg
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Henderson Harbor
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Smithville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Smithville is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smithville
  • Mannsville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Pierrepont Manor
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Adams
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Adams is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Adams
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,687 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Adams <1>
  • Adams Center
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Winona
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Winona is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winona
  • Lorraine
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Sackets Harbor
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Sandy Creek
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Lacona
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)

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

Newspapers Published in Rural Hill ...

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 102 newspapers that have been published in the area around Rural Hill.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Rural Hill, there are papers which were published within 25 miles [40.2 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Rural Hill.

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 websites either 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 Rural Hill:

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>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 Rural Hill, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Rural Hill) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.