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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 Wantagh (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 Wantagh. 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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.

Wantagh is located in Nassau 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 Nassau County: Bronx, Queens & Suffolk.

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

  • Nassau County     (The home county of Wantagh)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wantagh, with the one closest to Wantagh listed first.
    • North Wantagh
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Wantagh have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Wantagh
      • North Wantagh is located in Nassau County
    • Massapequa
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • North Bellmore
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Bellmore have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Bellmore
      • North Bellmore is located in Nassau County
    • Seaford
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Seaford have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seaford
      • Seaford is located in Nassau County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Seaford <2>
    • Bellmore
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bellmore have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bellmore
      • Bellmore is located in Nassau County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bellmore <2>
    • Levittown
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • North Massapequa
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Massapequa have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Massapequa
      • North Massapequa is located in Nassau County
    • Plainedge
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Biltmore Shores
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Merrick
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Merrick have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merrick
      • Merrick is located in Nassau County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Merrick <2>
    • North Merrick
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Merrick have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Merrick
      • North Merrick is located in Nassau County
    • East Massapequa
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Massapequa have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Massapequa
      • East Massapequa is located in Nassau County
  • Bronx County
  • Kings County
  • New York County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wantagh, with the one closest to Wantagh listed first.
    • Yorkville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Washington Heights
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Delano Village
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Delano Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Delano Village
      • Delano Village is located in New York County
    • Harlem
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Manhattan
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Park West Village
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Park West Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Park West Village
      • Park West Village is located in New York County
    • Peter Cooper Village
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Peter Cooper Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peter Cooper Village
      • Peter Cooper Village is located in New York County
    • Seneca Village
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Seneca Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seneca Village
      • Seneca Village is located in New York County
    • Stuyvesant Town
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stuyvesant Town have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stuyvesant Town
      • Stuyvesant Town is located in New York County
    • Inwood
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • East Village
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Village
      • East Village is located in New York County
    • Hell's Kitchen
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
  • Queens County
  • Richmond County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wantagh, with the one closest to Wantagh listed first.
    • New Brighton
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
    • Old Town Station
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Old Town Station have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Town Station
      • Old Town Station is located in Richmond County
  • Rockland County
  • Suffolk County
  • Westchester County
  • Fairfield County (CT)
  • Bergen County (NJ)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wantagh, with the one closest to Wantagh listed first.
    • Fort Lee
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Fort Lee. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Lee
      • Fort Lee is located in Bergen County (NJ)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Fort Lee
      • From Wantagh to Fort Lee
    • Linwood
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Linwood have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Linwood
      • Linwood is located in Bergen County (NJ)
    • Englewood
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Ridgefield Park
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ridgefield Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ridgefield Park
      • Ridgefield Park is located in Bergen County (NJ)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 12,837 people
    • West Englewood
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Teaneck
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Hudson County (NJ)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wantagh, with the one closest to Wantagh listed first.
    • Guttenberg
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Hoboken
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • North Bergen
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Union City
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Weehawken
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Weehawken have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weehawken
      • Weehawken is located in Hudson County (NJ)
    • West New York
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West New York have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West New York
      • West New York is located in Hudson County (NJ)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 53,132 people
    • Jersey City
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Communipaw
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Secaucus
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)

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

Cemeteries Near Wantagh ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Wantagh.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Wantagh, with the one closest to Wantagh 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 Wantagh in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Wantagh.

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

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Wantagh ...

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 265 newspapers that have been published in the area around Wantagh.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Wantagh. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Wantagh and those printed in the larger area surrounding Wantagh.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 12 miles [19.3 km]<6> of Wantagh.

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 Wantagh:

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

The official website for Nassau County: www.nassaucountyny.gov/

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Wantagh, 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Wantagh) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Wantagh. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.6839, Longitude: -73.5101    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025