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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 Williston (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 Williston. 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.

Williston is located in Erie 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 Erie County: Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Genesee, Niagara & Wyoming.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Williston ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Williston.

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

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

  • Maplewood Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Maplewood Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Maplewood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Marilla Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Marilla Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Marilla Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Folsomdale Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Folsomdale Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Folsomdale Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Cowlesville Village Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cowlesville Village Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Cowlesville Village Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Maple Rest Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Maple Rest Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Maple Rest Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Evergreen Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Evergreen Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Evergreen Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Alden Evergreen Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Evergreen Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Evergreen Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Evergreen Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hedges Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hedges Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hedges Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Maple Lawn Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Maple Lawn Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Maple Lawn Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Sacred Heart Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sacred Heart Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sacred Heart Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Alden Town Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Alden Town Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Alden Town Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2355878 <4>
  • Continue List   (376 more) ...
    • St. John the Baptist Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • German Lutheran Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the German Lutheran Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the German Lutheran Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Holmes Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Holmes Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Holmes 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 Williston had a population of 117 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Cowlesville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cowlesville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cowlesville
    • Cowlesville is located in Wyoming County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cowlesville <1>
  • Marilla
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Marilla have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marilla
    • Marilla is located in Erie County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Marilla <1>
  • Porterville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Folsomdale
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • East Elma
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Elma have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Elma
    • East Elma is located in Erie County
  • Wales Center
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wales Center have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wales Center
    • Wales Center is located in Erie County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wales Center <1>
  • West Alden
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Alden have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Alden
    • West Alden is located in Erie County
  • Jamison Road
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Jamison Road have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jamison Road
    • Jamison Road is located in Erie County
  • Alden
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Town Line
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Alden Center
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • East Aurora
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Aurora have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Aurora
    • East Aurora is located in Erie County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,165 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for East Aurora <1>
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Bennington
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bennington have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bennington
      • Bennington is located in Wyoming County
    • Elma
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Elma Center
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elma Center have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elma Center
      • Elma Center is located in Erie County

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

Newspapers Published in Williston ...

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 109 newspapers that have been published in the area around Williston.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Williston, there are papers which were published within 17 miles [27.4 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Williston.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 Williston:

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

The official website for Erie County: www.erie.gov/

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 Williston, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Williston) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Williston. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.8276, Longitude: -78.5165    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025