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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 West Allen (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 West Allen. 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 West Allen ...

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 West Allen: W. Allen

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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals 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.

West Allen is located in Allegany 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 Allegany County: Cattaraugus, Livingston, Steuben, Wyoming, McKean (PA) & Potter (PA).

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

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

Cemeteries Near West Allen ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of West Allen.

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

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

  • Allen Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Allen Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Allen Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Basswood Hill Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Basswood Hill Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Basswood Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • White Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the White Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the White Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • East Caneadea Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the East Caneadea Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the East Caneadea Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Riverside Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Riverside Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Riverside Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Chamberlain Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Chamberlain Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Chamberlain Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Until The Day Dawn Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Until The Day Dawn Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Until The Day Dawn Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Short Tract Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Caneadea Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Caneadea Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Caneadea Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • County Home Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the County Home Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the County Home Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Pine Grove Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Holy Cross Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Holy Cross Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Holy Cross Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (335 more) ...
    • German Settlement Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the German Settlement Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the German Settlement Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Mt. Pleasant Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Marshall Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Marshall Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Marshall Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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 in 1895, West Allen had a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Aristotle
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Belfast
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Oramel
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Oramel. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oramel
    • Oramel is located in Allegany County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Oramel
    • From West Allen to Oramel
  • Angelica
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Short Tract
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Short Tract have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Short Tract
    • Short Tract is located in Allegany County
  • Caneadea
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Bennetts
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bennetts have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bennetts
    • Bennetts is located in Allegany County
  • Birdsall
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Birdsall have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Birdsall
    • Birdsall is located in Allegany County
  • Houghton
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Fillmore
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Rossburg
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rossburg have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rossburg
    • Rossburg is located in Allegany County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rossburg <1>
  • Rockville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rockville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockville
    • Rockville is located in Allegany County
  • Continue List   (17 more) ...
    • Wiscoy
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Wiscoy. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wiscoy
      • Wiscoy is located in Allegany County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Wiscoy
      • From West Allen to Wiscoy
    • Belvidere
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Belvidere have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belvidere
      • Belvidere is located in Allegany County
    • Hume
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)

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

Newspapers Published in West Allen ...

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 84 newspapers that have been published in the area around West Allen.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of West Allen, 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 West Allen.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These professional and volunteer 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 West Allen:

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

The official website for Allegany County: www.alleganyco.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>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.
<3>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.
<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 West Allen, 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- West Allen) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in West Allen. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.3802, Longitude: -78.0384       In this case, the coordinates for West Allen have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 15 Jul 2025