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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 Sayville (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 Sayville. 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 Sayville ...

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.

For example, a typical abbreviation for West Sayville: W. Sayville

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 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.

West Sayville is located in Suffolk County.

To see how the shape of New York's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

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

  • Suffolk County     (The home county of West Sayville)
    • The following are listed by their distance from West Sayville, with the one closest to West Sayville listed first.
    • Sayville
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Bayport
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Bohemia
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Oakdale
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Blue Point
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Great River
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Patchogue
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • East Islip
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • East Islip is located in Suffolk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Islip
    • North Great River
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • North Great River is located in Suffolk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Great River
    • Holbrook
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • East Patchogue
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • East Patchogue is located in Suffolk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Patchogue
    • Islip Terrace
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Nassau County
    • The following are listed by their distance from West Sayville, with the one closest to West Sayville listed first.
    • South Farmingdale
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • South Farmingdale is located in Nassau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Farmingdale
    • East Massapequa
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
      • East Massapequa is located in Nassau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Massapequa
    • Farmingdale
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Massapequa Park
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Old Bethpage
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Biltmore Shores
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Biltmore Shores is located in Nassau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Biltmore Shores
    • Harbor Green
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Harbor Green is located in Nassau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harbor Green
    • Massapequa
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • North Massapequa
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • North Massapequa is located in Nassau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Massapequa
    • Plainview
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Bethpage
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Plainedge
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Plainedge is located in Nassau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plainedge
  • Fairfield County (CT)
    • The following are listed by their distance from West Sayville, with the one closest to West Sayville listed first.
    • Fairfield
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Southport
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Compo
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Compo is located in Fairfield County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Compo
    • Darien
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Darien is located in Fairfield County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Darien
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 21,693 people
    • Greens Farms
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Rowayton
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Black Rock
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Black Rock is located in Fairfield County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Black Rock
    • Darien
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
    • East Norwalk
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • East Norwalk is located in Fairfield County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Norwalk
    • Noroton
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Noroton is located in Fairfield County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Noroton
    • Norwalk
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Norwalk is located in Fairfield County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Norwalk
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 88,655 people
    • Saugatuck
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Saugatuck is located in Fairfield County (CT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saugatuck

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

Cemeteries Near West Sayville ...

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

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.

Although we don't have the information ourselves, if you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our list of websites on our Genealogy Helper Page for West Sayville - one of the links might be able to help.

If not found below, our Cemetery List for West Sayville covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • St. Ann's Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • Union Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • St. Lawrence Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • Bohemia Union Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • St. John Nepomucene RC Church Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Blue Point Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Rice Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Lakeview Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • St. de Sales Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Cedar Grove Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Patchogue Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Old Central Islip Psychiatric Center Patient Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (172 more) ...
    • Waverly Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Cenacle Convent Graveyard
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • St. Johns Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)

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.<3>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, West Sayville had a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Sayville
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • Bohemia
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • Bayport
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Blue Point
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Great River
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Patchogue
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Ronkonkoma
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • East Patchogue
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • East Patchogue is located in Suffolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Patchogue
  • Holbrook
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Islip
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Fire Island
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Holtsville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Central Islip
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Bay Shore
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Bellport
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)

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

Newspapers Published in West Sayville ...

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 195 newspapers that have been published in the area around West Sayville.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of West Sayville, there are papers which were published within 18 miles [29 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for West Sayville.

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 West Sayville:

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 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.
<3>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 Sayville, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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 from Point A (ie- West Sayville) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.