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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 Spencer (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 Spencer. 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 southwest 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 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.

Spencer is located in Tioga 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 Tioga County: Broome, Chemung, Cortland, Tompkins, Bradford (PA) & Susquehanna (PA).

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

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

Cemeteries Near Spencer ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Spencer.

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 Spencer - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Evergreen Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Evergreen Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Evergreen Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Old Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Baptist Corners Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Baptist Corners Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Baptist Corners Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • North Spencer Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the North Spencer Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the North Spencer Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Ferris Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ferris Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ferris Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Canfield Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Canfield Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Canfield Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mt. Hope Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Hope Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Hope Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Westbrook Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Westbrook Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Westbrook Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Schumacher Road Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Schumacher Road Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Schumacher Road Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • West Candor Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the West Candor Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the West Candor Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jenkins Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jenkins Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Jenkins Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Halsey Valley Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Halsey Valley Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Halsey Valley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (405 more) ...
    • North Candor Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the North Candor Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the North Candor Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Fisher Settlement Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fisher Settlement Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fisher Settlement Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Larue Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Larue Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Larue Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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.<4>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Spencer had a population of 810 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Spencer had a population of 702 people.

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

  • Van Etten
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Van Etten have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Van Etten
    • Van Etten is located in Chemung County
    • Estimated population in 2019: 494 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Van Etten <1>
  • North Spencer
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • West Candor
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Halsey Valley
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Halsey Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halsey Valley
    • Halsey Valley is located in Tioga County
  • North Barton
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Barton have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Barton
    • North Barton is located in Tioga County
  • Swartwood
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Swartwood have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swartwood
    • Swartwood is located in Chemung County
  • West Danby
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for West Danby. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Danby
    • West Danby is located in Tompkins County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to West Danby
    • From Spencer to West Danby
  • Reniff
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Reniff have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reniff
    • Reniff is located in Tioga County
  • Straits Corners
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Straits Corners have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Straits Corners
    • Straits Corners is located in Tioga County
  • Candor
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Willseyville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Willseyville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willseyville
    • Willseyville is located in Tioga County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Willseyville <1>
  • Hicks
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hicks have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hicks
    • Hicks is located in Chemung County
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Lockwood
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Erin
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Stratton
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stratton have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stratton
      • Stratton is located in Tompkins County

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Spencer ...

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 83 newspapers that have been published in the area around Spencer.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Spencer. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Spencer and those printed in the larger area surrounding Spencer.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 18 miles [29 km]<5> of Spencer.

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 Spencer:

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>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.
<3>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.
<4>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 Spencer, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<5>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Spencer) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Spencer. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.2114, Longitude: -76.4927