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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 South Dayton (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 South Dayton. 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 South Dayton ...

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 South Dayton: S. Dayton

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 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.

South Dayton is located in Cattaraugus 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 Cattaraugus County: Allegany, Chautauqua, Erie, Wyoming, McKean (PA) & Warren (PA).

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

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

Cemeteries Near South Dayton ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of South Dayton.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from South Dayton, with the one closest to South Dayton 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.<5>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that South Dayton had a population of 500 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, South Dayton had a population of 575 people.

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

  • Markhams
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Markhams have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Markhams
    • Markhams is located in Cattaraugus County
  • East Leon
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Leon have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Leon
    • East Leon is located in Cattaraugus County
  • Wesley
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wesley have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wesley
    • Wesley is located in Cattaraugus County
  • Wango
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Wango. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wango
    • Wango is located in Chautauqua County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Wango
    • From South Dayton to Wango
  • Cottage
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Cottage. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottage
    • Cottage is located in Cattaraugus County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Cottage
    • From South Dayton to Cottage
  • Hamlet
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hamlet have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hamlet
    • Hamlet is located in Chautauqua County
  • Cherry Creek
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cherry Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherry Creek
    • Cherry Creek is located in Chautauqua County
    • Estimated population in 2019: 431 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cherry Creek <3>
  • Leon
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Leon have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leon
    • Leon is located in Cattaraugus County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Leon <3>
  • Dayton
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dayton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dayton
    • Dayton is located in Cattaraugus County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Dayton <3>
  • Nashville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nashville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nashville
    • Nashville is located in Chautauqua County
  • Persia
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Persia. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Persia
    • Persia is located in Cattaraugus County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Persia
    • From South Dayton to Persia
  • Perrysburg
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Perrysburg have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Perrysburg
    • Perrysburg is located in Cattaraugus County
    • Estimated population in 2012: 394 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Perrysburg <3>
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Conewango Valley
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Conewango Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Conewango Valley
      • Conewango Valley is located in Cattaraugus County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Conewango Valley <3>
    • Conewango
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Clear Creek
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clear Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clear Creek
      • Clear Creek is located in Cattaraugus County

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of South Dayton ...

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 64 newspapers that have been published in the area around South Dayton.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of South Dayton. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of South Dayton and those printed in the larger area surrounding South Dayton.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 21 miles [33.8 km]<6> of South Dayton.

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 South Dayton:

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

The official website for Cattaraugus County: www.co.cattaraugus.ny.us/

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<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>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 South Dayton, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- South Dayton) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in South Dayton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.3617, Longitude: -79.0511    









 

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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.

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025