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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 Vestal (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 Vestal. 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 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 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.

Vestal is located in Broome 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 Broome County: Chenango, Cortland, Delaware, Tioga, Susquehanna (PA) & Wayne (PA).

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

  • Broome County     (The home county of Vestal)
  • Chemung County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Vestal, with the one closest to Vestal listed first.
    • Van Etten
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Van Etten have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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>
    • Owens Mills
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Owens Mills. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Owens Mills
      • Owens Mills is located in Chemung County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Owens Mills
      • From Vestal to Owens Mills
    • Chemung
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chemung have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chemung
      • Chemung is located in Chemung County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Chemung <1>
  • Chenango County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Vestal, with the one closest to Vestal listed first.
    • Greene
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Greene have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greene
      • Greene is located in Chenango County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,391 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Greene <1>
    • Smithville Flats
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Nineveh Junction
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nineveh Junction have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nineveh Junction
      • Nineveh Junction is located in Chenango County
    • Afton
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Afton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Afton
      • Afton is located in Chenango County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 796 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Afton <1>
    • Adams Corner
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Union Valley
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
    • West Bainbridge
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Cortland County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Vestal, with the one closest to Vestal listed first.
    • Harford Mills
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Lapeer
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Marathon
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Marathon have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marathon
      • Marathon is located in Cortland County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 853 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Marathon <1>
    • Harford
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Messengerville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
  • Tioga County
  • Tompkins County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Vestal, with the one closest to Vestal listed first.
    • White Church
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Slaterville Springs
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Besemer
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • West Danby
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • 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.<3>
      • 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 Vestal to West Danby
    • Dryden
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dryden have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dryden
      • Dryden is located in Tompkins County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,996 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Dryden <1>
  • Bradford County (PA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Vestal, with the one closest to Vestal listed first.
    • Warren Center
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • West Warren
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for West Warren. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Warren
      • West Warren is located in Bradford County (PA)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to West Warren
      • From Vestal to West Warren
    • South Warren
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Potterville
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • North Orwell
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Le Raysville
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Le Raysville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Le Raysville
      • Le Raysville is located in Bradford County (PA)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 271 people
    • South Hill
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Allis Hollow
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Allis Hollow. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Allis Hollow
      • Allis Hollow is located in Bradford County (PA)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Allis Hollow
      • From Vestal to Allis Hollow
    • Bumpville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Bumpville. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bumpville
      • Bumpville is located in Bradford County (PA)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Bumpville
      • From Vestal to Bumpville
    • Herrickville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Rome
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rome have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rome
      • Rome is located in Bradford County (PA)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 400 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rome <1>
    • Vawter
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Vawter. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vawter
      • Vawter is located in Bradford County (PA)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Vawter
      • From Vestal to Vawter
    • Athens
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Athens have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Athens
      • Athens is located in Bradford County (PA)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,180 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Athens <1>
  • Susquehanna County (PA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Vestal, with the one closest to Vestal listed first.
    • Choconut
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Choconut. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Choconut
      • Choconut is located in Susquehanna County (PA)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Choconut
      • From Vestal to Choconut
    • Little Meadows
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Brackney
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Friendsville
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Friendsville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friendsville
      • Friendsville is located in Susquehanna County (PA)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 102 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Friendsville <1>
    • Forest Lake
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Forest Lake. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Lake
      • Forest Lake is located in Susquehanna County (PA)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Forest Lake
      • From Vestal to Forest Lake
    • Lawsville Center
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Great Bend
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Great Bend have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Great Bend
      • Great Bend is located in Susquehanna County (PA)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 663 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Great Bend <1>
    • Hallstead
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hallstead have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hallstead
      • Hallstead is located in Susquehanna County (PA)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,195 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hallstead <1>
    • Fairdale
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Fairdale. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairdale
      • Fairdale is located in Susquehanna County (PA)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Fairdale
      • From Vestal to Fairdale
    • Montrose
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Montrose have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montrose
      • Montrose is located in Susquehanna County (PA)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,464 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Montrose <1>
    • Heart Lake
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Heart Lake. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heart Lake
      • Heart Lake is located in Susquehanna County (PA)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Heart Lake
      • From Vestal to Heart Lake
    • Tiffany
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Rushville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Rushville. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rushville
      • Rushville is located in Susquehanna County (PA)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Rushville
      • From Vestal to Rushville
  • Wyoming County (PA)

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

Cemeteries Near Vestal ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Vestal.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Vestal, with the one closest to Vestal 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>

While we didn't find Vestal in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Vestal.

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

  • Willow Point
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Tracy Creek
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tracy Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tracy Creek
    • Tracy Creek is located in Broome County
  • Campville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Union Center
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Union Center have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Center
    • Union Center is located in Broome County
  • Apalachin
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Apalachin have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Apalachin
    • Apalachin is located in Tioga County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Apalachin <1>
  • South Apalachin
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Apalachin have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Apalachin
    • South Apalachin is located in Tioga County
  • Stella
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stella have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stella
    • Stella is located in Broome County
  • Choconut Center
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Choconut Center have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Choconut Center
    • Choconut Center is located in Broome County
  • Little Meadows
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Choconut
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Choconut. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Choconut
    • Choconut is located in Susquehanna County (PA)
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Choconut
    • From Vestal to Choconut
  • Binghamton
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Maine
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • East Maine
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Maine have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Maine
      • East Maine is located in Broome County
    • Hawleyton
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Port Dickinson
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Port Dickinson have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Port Dickinson
      • Port Dickinson is located in Broome County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,510 people

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Vestal ...

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 61 newspapers that have been published in the area around Vestal.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Vestal. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Vestal and those printed in the larger area surrounding Vestal.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 18 miles [29 km]<6> of Vestal.

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 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 Vestal:

The official website for Vestal: www.vestalny.com/

The official website for Broome County: www.gobroomecounty.com/

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>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 Vestal, 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' (or 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- Vestal) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Vestal. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.0857, Longitude: -76.0536    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 15 Jul 2025