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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 Sterling Valley (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 Sterling Valley. 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 Sterling Valley ...

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 Sterling Valley: Sterling Vly. (or less commonly used: Sterling Vally. or Sterling Vlly.)

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.

Sterling Valley is located in Cayuga 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 Cayuga County: Cortland, Onondaga, Oswego, Seneca, Tompkins & Wayne.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Sterling Valley ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Sterling Valley.

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

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

  • Springbrook Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Hannibal Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • 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.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Stevens Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • 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.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Fairdale Rural Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • 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.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Phillips Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Phillips Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Phillips Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Forscutt Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Forscutt Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Forscutt Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Martville Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Hannibal Center Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hannibal Center Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hannibal Center Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Livingston Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • McArthur Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Overacre Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Overacre Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Overacre Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Bethel Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bethel Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bethel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (269 more) ...
    • Irish Settlement Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • 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.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Union Village Rural Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] 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.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Rice Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)

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 Sterling Valley had a population of 115 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service.

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

  • Sterling
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sterling have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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 <2>
  • North Sterling
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • North Fair Haven
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Fair Haven have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Fair Haven
    • North Fair Haven is located in Cayuga County
  • Hannibal
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Fair Haven
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Martville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Martville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martville
    • Martville is located in Cayuga County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Martville <2>
  • Fairdale
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • North Hannibal
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Hannibal have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Hannibal
    • North Hannibal is located in Oswego County
  • Hannibal Center
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hannibal Center have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hannibal Center
    • Hannibal Center is located in Oswego County
  • Furniss
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Southwest Oswego
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • North Victory
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Dexterville
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dexterville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dexterville
      • Dexterville is located in Oswego County
    • Oswego Center
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Fruit Valley
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fruit Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fruit Valley
      • Fruit Valley is located in Oswego County

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

Newspapers Published in Sterling Valley ...

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 164 newspapers that have been published in the area around Sterling Valley.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Sterling Valley, there are papers which were published within 21 miles [33.8 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Sterling Valley.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with 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 Sterling Valley:

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

The official website for Cayuga County: www.co.cayuga.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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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>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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Sterling Valley) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Sterling Valley. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.3485, Longitude: -76.6299    
<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 Sterling Valley, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025