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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 (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. 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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.

Watertown is located in Jefferson County and is the County Seat.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Watertown ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Watertown.

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

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

  • Arsenal Street Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • 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.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • North Watertown Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • Graves Hill Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • 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.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Degel Israel Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] 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.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Brookside Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • Glenwood Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • Calvary Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • 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.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Sandy Lawn Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • Fields Settlement Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • 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.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Pettit Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • 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.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Brownville Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Underwood Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 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.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (157 more) ...
    • Maple Hill Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
      • 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.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Stevens Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • 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.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Rutland Hollow Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rutland Hollow Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rutland Hollow Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Watertown had a population of 14,725 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Watertown had a population of 24,330 people.

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

  • 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.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Watertown
    • East Watertown is located in Jefferson County
  • East Hounsfield
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Hounsfield have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Hounsfield
    • East Hounsfield is located in Jefferson County
  • Rices
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rices have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rices
    • Rices is located in Jefferson County
  • Brownville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Alverson
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Black River
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • East Rodman
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Limerick
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Dexter
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Rodman
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rodman have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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 <2>
  • Felts Mills
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Felts Mills have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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 <2>
  • Adams Center
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (17 more) ...
    • Evans Mills
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Sackets Harbor
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sackets Harbor have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sackets Harbor
      • Sackets Harbor is located in Jefferson County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,376 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sackets Harbor <2>
    • Stone Mills
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stone Mills have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stone Mills
      • Stone Mills 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. See our List of 1890's Communities around Watertown.

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Watertown ...

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 139 newspapers that have been published in the area around Watertown.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Watertown. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Watertown and those printed in the larger area surrounding Watertown.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 22 miles [35.4 km]<6> of Watertown.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These websites either 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:

The official website for Watertown: www.citywatertown.org/

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>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 Watertown, 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- Watertown) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Watertown. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.9749, Longitude: -75.9107    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025