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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 Westville (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 Westville. 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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.

Westville is located in Franklin County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Franklin County: Clinton, Essex, Hamilton & Saint Lawrence.

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

  • Franklin County     (The home county of Westville)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Westville, with the one closest to Westville listed first.
    • Westville Center
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Westville Center is located in Franklin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westville Center
    • Fort Covington
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Constable
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Bombay
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Malone
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Bangor
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • West Bangor
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • West Bangor is located in Franklin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Bangor
    • Brushton
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Burke
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Whippleville
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Moira
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Hogansburg
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • East Dickinson
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
      • East Dickinson is located in Franklin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Dickinson
  • Clinton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Westville, with the one closest to Westville listed first.
    • Churubusco
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Harrigan
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Harrigan is located in Clinton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harrigan
    • Ellenburg Center
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Lyon Mountain
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Standish
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Standish is located in Clinton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Standish
  • Saint Lawrence County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Westville, with the one closest to Westville listed first.
    • Brasher Iron Works
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Brasher Iron Works is located in Saint Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brasher Iron Works
    • Helena
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Rooseveltown
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Brasher Falls
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Nicholville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Winthrop
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Hopkinton
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Hopkinton is located in Saint Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hopkinton
    • Massena Springs
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Massena Springs is located in Saint Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Massena Springs
    • Massena
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Massena is located in Saint Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Massena
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 10,122 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Massena <1>
    • Brookdale
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Brookdale is located in Saint Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brookdale
    • North Stockholm
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • North Stockholm is located in Saint Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Stockholm
    • Sandfordville
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Sandfordville is located in Saint Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandfordville
    • Raymondville
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)

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

Cemeteries Near Westville ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Westville.

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 Westville - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Riverside Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
  • Briggs Street Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
  • Coal Hill Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Pine Grove Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Elmwood Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • St. Mary's Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • St. Mary's Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for St. Mary's Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the St. Mary's Cemetery is located outside and to the east of Fort Covington.
    • The St. Mary's Cemetery has also been known as:
    • St. Mary's Catholic Church Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #66082 <2>
  • St. Mary's Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • St. Bridget's RC Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Maple Hill Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Southworth Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Wylie Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (113 more) ...
    • Constable Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Constable Cemetery
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Constable Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the southeast of Constable.
      • The Constable Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Irish Cemetery
      • Irish Street Cemetery
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2217364 <2>
    • St. Francis of Assisi Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • United Methodist Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)

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>

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

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

  • Westville Center
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Westville Center is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westville Center
  • Fort Covington Center
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Fort Covington Center is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Covington Center
  • Fort Covington
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Trout River
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Trout River is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trout River
  • Bombay
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • South Bombay
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • South Bombay is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Bombay
  • North Bangor
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Malone
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Brushton
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • West Bangor
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • West Bangor is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Bangor
  • Bangor
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Sun
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Sun is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sun
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Moira
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Whippleville
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Burke
      (12 miles [19.3 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 Westville. See our List of 1890's Communities around Westville.

Newspapers Published in Westville ...

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 29 newspapers that have been published in the area around Westville.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Westville, there are papers which were published within 20 miles [32.2 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Westville.

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 Westville:

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 Westville, 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' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Westville) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.