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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 Southwest Oswego (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 Southwest Oswego. 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 hospitals and doctors 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.

Southwest Oswego is located in Oswego 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 Oswego County: Cayuga, Jefferson, Lewis, Madison, Oneida & Onondaga.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Southwest Oswego ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Southwest Oswego.

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

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

  • Stevens Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Stevens Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Stevens Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Union Village Rural Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Union Village Rural Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Union Village Rural Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Rice Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • Irish Settlement Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Irish Settlement Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Irish Settlement Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Riverside Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • St. Peters Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Peters Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Peters Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • South Road Rural Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the South Road Rural Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the South Road Rural Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Ft. Ontario Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ft. Ontario Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ft. Ontario Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hannibal Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hannibal Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hannibal Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Fairdale Rural Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fairdale Rural Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fairdale Rural Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Lewis Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Minetto Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Minetto Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Minetto Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (238 more) ...
    • Fairview Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • 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.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Kingdom Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Kingdom Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Kingdom Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Clark Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Clark Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Clark Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Southwest Oswego had a population of 320 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Fruit Valley
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fruit Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fruit Valley
    • Fruit Valley is located in Oswego County
  • Furniss
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Oswego Center
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • North Sterling
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • North Hannibal
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Hannibal have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Hannibal
    • North Hannibal is located in Oswego County
  • Oswego
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Sterling Valley
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Minetto
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Minetto have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minetto
    • Minetto is located in Oswego County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Minetto <1>
  • Seneca Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Seneca Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seneca Hill
    • Seneca Hill is located in Oswego County
  • Sterling
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sterling have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sterling
    • Sterling is located in Cayuga County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sterling <1>
  • Hannibal
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Fairdale
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (18 more) ...
    • Lansing
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lansing have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lansing
      • Lansing is located in Oswego County
    • Dexterville
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dexterville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dexterville
      • Dexterville is located in Oswego County
    • North Fair Haven
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Fair Haven have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Fair Haven
      • North Fair Haven is located in Cayuga County

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

Newspapers Published in Southwest Oswego ...

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 142 newspapers that have been published in the area around Southwest Oswego.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Southwest Oswego, there are papers which were published within 23 miles [37 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Southwest Oswego.

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 Southwest Oswego:

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

The official website for Oswego County: www.co.oswego.ny.us/

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 'straight-line' (or 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- Southwest Oswego) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Southwest Oswego. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.4128, Longitude: -76.5775    
<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 Southwest Oswego, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025