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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 Watertown Center (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 Watertown Center. 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 Watertown Center ...

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 Watertown Center: Watertown Ctr. (or less commonly used: Watertown Cen., Watertown Cent. or Watertown Cntr.)

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 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.

Watertown Center is located in Jefferson 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 Jefferson County: Lewis, Oswego & Saint Lawrence.

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

  • Jefferson County     (The home county of Watertown Center)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Watertown Center, with the one closest to Watertown Center listed first.
    • Watertown
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Glen Park
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Glen Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Park
      • Glen Park is located in Jefferson County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 462 people
    • Brownville
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Paddy Hill
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paddy Hill
      • Paddy Hill is located in Jefferson County
    • East Rodman
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for East Rodman. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Rodman
      • East Rodman is located in Jefferson County
    • Alverson
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alverson
      • Alverson is located in Jefferson County
    • Calcium
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Calcium have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Calcium
      • Calcium is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Calcium <1>
    • Black River
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Dexter
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Adams Center
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Limerick
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Limerick. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Limerick
      • Limerick is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Limerick <1>
    • Adams
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Adams
      • Adams is located in Jefferson County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,687 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Adams <1>
    • Boultons Beach
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boultons Beach
      • Boultons Beach is located in Jefferson County
  • Lewis County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Watertown Center, with the one closest to Watertown Center listed first.
    • Barnes Corners
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barnes Corners
      • Barnes Corners is located in Lewis County
    • Copenhagen
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Copenhagen have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Copenhagen
      • Copenhagen is located in Lewis County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 767 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Copenhagen <1>
    • New Boston
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for New Boston. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Boston
      • New Boston is located in Lewis County
    • Denmark
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Denmark. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Denmark
      • Denmark is located in Lewis County
    • Harrisburg
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Harrisburg. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harrisburg
      • Harrisburg is located in Lewis County
    • Rector
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rector
      • Rector is located in Lewis County
    • Parkers
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Parkers. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parkers
      • Parkers is located in Lewis County
    • Briggs Corner
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Briggs Corner
      • Briggs Corner is located in Lewis County
    • Castorland
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Castorland have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Castorland
      • Castorland is located in Lewis County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 341 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Castorland <1>
    • Naumburg
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Naumburg. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Naumburg
      • Naumburg is located in Lewis County
    • Forest City
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Forest City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest City
      • Forest City is located in Lewis County
    • Lowville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • West Martinsburg
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for West Martinsburg. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Martinsburg
      • West Martinsburg is located in Lewis County
  • Oswego County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Watertown Center, with the one closest to Watertown Center listed first.
    • Lacona
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Sandy Creek
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Chateaugay
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chateaugay have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chateaugay
      • Chateaugay is located in Oswego County
    • Orwell
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Richland
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Pulaski
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Redfield
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Altmar
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Altmar have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Altmar
      • Altmar is located in Oswego County
      • Estimated population in 2015: 389 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Altmar <1>
    • Daysville Corner
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Daysville Corner
      • Daysville Corner is located in Oswego County
  • Saint Lawrence County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Watertown Center, with the one closest to Watertown Center listed first.
    • Somerville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Somerville. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Somerville
      • Somerville is located in Saint Lawrence County
    • Wegatchie
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wegatchie
      • Wegatchie is located in Saint Lawrence County

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

Cemeteries Near Watertown Center ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Watertown Center.

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

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

  • Degel Israel Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Degel Israel Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Degel Israel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Brookside Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
  • Glenwood Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Glenwood Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Glenwood Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the south of Watertown.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #64662 <4>
  • Arsenal Street Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Arsenal Street Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Arsenal Street Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Graves Hill Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Graves Hill Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Graves Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • North Watertown Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Calvary Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Calvary Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Calvary Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Fields Settlement Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fields Settlement Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fields Settlement Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Underwood Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Underwood Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Underwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Sandy Lawn Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Zoar Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Zoar Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Zoar Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Pettit Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pettit Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pettit Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (152 more) ...
    • Maple Hill Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Maple Hill Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Maple Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Brownville Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Muskalonge Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Muskalonge Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Muskalonge 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.<5>

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

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

  • Watertown
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • Rices
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rices have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rices
    • Rices is located in Jefferson County
  • East Watertown
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Watertown have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Watertown
    • East Watertown is located in Jefferson County
  • East Hounsfield
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Hounsfield have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Hounsfield
    • East Hounsfield is located in Jefferson County
  • East Rodman
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for East Rodman. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Rodman
    • East Rodman is located in Jefferson County
  • Brownville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Alverson
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alverson
    • Alverson is located in Jefferson County
  • Rodman
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rodman have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rodman
    • Rodman is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rodman <1>
  • Adams Center
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Black River
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Dexter
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Limerick
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Limerick. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Limerick
    • Limerick is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Limerick <1>
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Barnes Corners
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barnes Corners
      • Barnes Corners is located in Lewis County
    • Felts Mills
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Felts Mills have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Felts Mills
      • Felts Mills is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Felts Mills <1>
    • Smithville
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Smithville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smithville
      • Smithville is located in Jefferson County

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

Newspapers Published in Watertown Center ...

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 154 newspapers that have been published in the area around Watertown Center.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Watertown Center, there are papers which were published within 23 miles [37 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Watertown Center.

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 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 Watertown Center:

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

The official website for Jefferson County: www.co.jefferson.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>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 Watertown Center, 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Watertown Center) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Watertown Center. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.9426, Longitude: -75.9158       In this case, the coordinates for Watertown Center have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025