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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 Wells (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 Wells. 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.

Wells is located in Hamilton 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 Hamilton County: Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Herkimer, Saint Lawrence, Saratoga & Warren.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Wells ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Wells.

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

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

  • South Side Lake Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the South Side Lake Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the South Side Lake Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Wadswarth Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wadswarth Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wadswarth Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Willard Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Willard Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Willard Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Fish Mtn. Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fish Mtn. Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fish Mtn. Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Gifford Valley Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Gifford Valley Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Gifford Valley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Prospect Hill Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Prospect Hill Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Prospect Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Edinburg Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Edinburg Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Edinburg Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Main Street Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Main Street Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Main Street Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Scofield Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Scofield Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Scofield Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Van Dusen Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Van Dusen Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Van Dusen Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Lens Lake Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lens Lake Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lens Lake Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Bleeker Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bleeker Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bleeker Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (136 more) ...
    • Partridge Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Partridge Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Partridge Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • St. Josephs Cemetery
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Josephs Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Josephs Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Bleecker Center Cemetery
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bleecker Center Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bleecker Center 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.<4>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Wells had a population of 556 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Hope
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Griffin
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Griffin have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Griffin
    • Griffin is located in Hamilton County
  • Benson
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Benson. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Benson
    • Benson is located in Hamilton County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Benson
    • From Wells to Benson
  • Piseco
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Rudeston
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rudeston have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rudeston
    • Rudeston is located in Hamilton County
  • Sacandaga Park
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sacandaga Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sacandaga Park
    • Sacandaga Park is located in Fulton County
  • Northville
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
  • West Day
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Day have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Day
    • West Day is located in Saratoga County
  • Oregon
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oregon have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oregon
    • Oregon is located in Warren County
  • Arietta
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Edinburg
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Cranberry Creek
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Wells ...

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 71 newspapers that have been published in the area around Wells.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Wells. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Wells and those printed in the larger area surrounding Wells.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<5> of Wells.

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 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 Wells:

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

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>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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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 Wells, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<5>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Wells) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Wells. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.3954, Longitude: -74.2897    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025