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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 Woods Lake (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 Woods Lake. 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 Woods Lake ...

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.

  • A typical abbreviation for Woods Lake: Woods Lk.
  • While the name of this community is Woods Lake, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Woods Lake may originally have been Wood's Lake.

    Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Woods Lake might be written as Wood Lake.

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 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.

Woods Lake is located in Herkimer 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 Herkimer County: Fulton, Hamilton, Lewis, Madison, Montgomery, Oneida, Otsego & Saint Lawrence.

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

  • Herkimer County     (The home county of Woods Lake)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Woods Lake, with the one closest to Woods Lake listed first.
    • Beaver River
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Beaver River. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beaver River
      • Beaver River is located in Herkimer County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Beaver River <3>
    • Thendara
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thendara
      • Thendara is located in Herkimer County
  • Hamilton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Woods Lake, with the one closest to Woods Lake listed first.
    • Inlet
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Raquette Lake
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Blue Mountain Lake
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Blue Mountain Lake. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blue Mountain Lake
      • Blue Mountain Lake is located in Hamilton County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Blue Mountain Lake <3>
  • Jefferson County
  • Lewis County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Woods Lake, with the one closest to Woods Lake listed first.
    • Number Four
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Number Four. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Number Four
      • Number Four is located in Lewis County
    • Belfort
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Belfort. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belfort
      • Belfort is located in Lewis County
    • Crystal Dale
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crystal Dale
      • Crystal Dale is located in Lewis County
    • Petries Corners
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Petries Corners
      • Petries Corners is located in Lewis County
    • Jerden Falls
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Jerden Falls. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jerden Falls
      • Jerden Falls is located in Lewis County
    • Croghan
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Croghan have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Croghan
      • Croghan is located in Lewis County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 591 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Croghan <3>
    • Indian River
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Indian River. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian River
      • Indian River is located in Lewis County
    • Greig
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Lyonsdale
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyonsdale
      • Lyonsdale is located in Lewis County
    • East Martinsburg
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for East Martinsburg. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Martinsburg
      • East Martinsburg is located in Lewis County
    • Watson
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Watson
      • Watson is located in Lewis County
    • Forest City
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Forest City have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest City
      • Forest City is located in Lewis County
    • Glendale
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
  • Saint Lawrence County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Woods Lake, with the one closest to Woods Lake listed first.
    • Wanakena
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Star Lake
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Coffins Mills
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coffins Mills
      • Coffins Mills is located in Saint Lawrence County
    • Oswegatchie
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Lower Oswegatchie
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lower Oswegatchie
      • Lower Oswegatchie is located in Saint Lawrence County
    • Newton Falls
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Jayville ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Jayville. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jayville
      • Jayville is located in Saint Lawrence County
    • Horseshoe
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horseshoe
      • Horseshoe is located in Saint Lawrence County
    • Cranberry Lake
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)

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

Cemeteries Near Woods Lake ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Woods Lake.

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

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

  • Riverview Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Riverview Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Riverview Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Wanakena Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
  • Wetmore Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wetmore Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wetmore Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Brantingham Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Brantingham Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Brantingham Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Huberts Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
  • St. Stephens Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Stephens Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Stephens Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Tinney Corners Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Basselin Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Basselin Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Basselin Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Beaches Bridge Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Beaches Bridge Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Beaches Bridge Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Burdicks Crossing Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Burdicks Crossing Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Burdicks Crossing Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Sands Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sands Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sands Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Oswegatchie Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (31 more) ...
    • Woodgate Cemetery
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Woodgate Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Woodgate Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Salem Cemetery
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Salem Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Salem Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Wildwood Cemetery
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)

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.<7>

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

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

  • Old Forge
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Old Forge have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Forge
    • Old Forge is located in Herkimer County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Old Forge <3>
  • Number Four
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Number Four. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Number Four
    • Number Four is located in Lewis County
  • Minnehaha
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Minnehaha have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minnehaha
    • Minnehaha is located in Herkimer County
  • Raquette Lake
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
  • Belfort
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Belfort. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belfort
    • Belfort is located in Lewis County
  • Kirschnerville
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kirschnerville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kirschnerville
    • Kirschnerville is located in Lewis County
  • Crystal Dale
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crystal Dale
    • Crystal Dale is located in Lewis County
  • Brantingham
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brantingham have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brantingham
    • Brantingham is located in Lewis County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Brantingham <3>
  • Petries Corners
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Petries Corners
    • Petries Corners is located in Lewis County
  • Jerden Falls
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Jerden Falls. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jerden Falls
    • Jerden Falls is located in Lewis County
  • Indian River
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Indian River. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian River
    • Indian River is located in Lewis County
  • Croghan
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Croghan have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Croghan
    • Croghan is located in Lewis County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 591 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Croghan <3>
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Benson Mines
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Benson Mines have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Benson Mines
      • Benson Mines is located in Saint Lawrence County
    • Bushes Landing
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bushes Landing have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bushes Landing
      • Bushes Landing is located in Lewis County
    • Greig
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)

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

Newspapers Published in Woods Lake ...

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 38 newspapers that have been published in the area around Woods Lake.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Woods Lake, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Woods Lake.

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 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 Woods Lake:

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

The official website for Herkimer County: www.herkimercounty.org/

The official website for State of New York: https://www.ny.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>It's generally believed that possessive apostrophes are removed to prevent confusion on maps where the apostrophe may be confused with a cartographic symbol. While this is generally true, it's not uncommon to find possessive apostrophes in administrative names (such as towns or counties).
<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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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.
<5>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.
<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- Woods Lake) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Woods Lake. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.8523, Longitude: -74.9513       In this case, the coordinates for Woods Lake have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>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 Woods Lake, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025