Our Genealogy Helper
Introduction ...
Although we found mention of Port Findlay during our research, we really don't have any information about it.<1> Given the context of how Port Findlay was mentioned, we believe that it was a community rather than a locale or some type of landmark. We have done a cursory search and if it was a community, we haven't been able to find any evidence that it still exists..
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 Port Findlay (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 Port Findlay. 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 Port Findlay ...
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 Port Findlay: Prt. Findlay
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.
Newspapers Published in Port Findlay ...
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 19 newspapers that have been published in the area around Port Findlay.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Port Findlay, there are papers which were published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Port Findlay.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we begin with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These websites either 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 Port Findlay:
- Websites specific to Ontario
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Ontario
Cemeteries Near Port Findlay ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Port Findlay.
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 Port Findlay covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Port Findlay, with the one closest to Port Findlay listed first.
- St. Joseph Twp. Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
- Desbarats Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- Laird Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
- Presbyterian Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Presbyterian Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Presbyterian Cemetery
- Johnston Family Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Johnston Family Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Johnston Family Cemetery
- Duck Island Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Duck Island Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Duck Island Cemetery
- Grace United Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Grace United Cemetery is located outside and to the southwest of Hilton Beach.
- The Grace United Cemetery has also been known as:
- Hilton Beach United Cemetery
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Grace United Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2422853 <3>
- Catholic Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Catholic Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Catholic Cemetery
- Laitinen Family Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Laitinen Family Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Laitinen Family Cemetery
- St. Boniface Catholic Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
- Finnish Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Finnish Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Finnish Cemetery
- Mapleleaf Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
- Continue List (61 more) ...
- Mt. Pleasant Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
- Sylvan Valley Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
- Wilwalk Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wilwalk Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wilwalk Cemetery
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Port Findlay. See our List of 1890's Communities around Port Findlay.
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Province of Ontario: https://www.ontario.ca/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer. For example, we might find a sentence like "He went north past Port Findlay and then turned east". While Port Findlay could be some kind of landmark, we think that it's more likely to be a community. We've added Port Findlay as a placeholder with the hope that we'll be able to add more information in the future.
Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Miller Creek to see Pete ... Miller Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.
Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.
Also keep in mind that Port Findlay could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong . Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
Since confusion between is common, we searched and weren't able to find another Ontario community named Port Findlay. |
| <2> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Port Findlay) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Port Findlay. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.3181, Longitude: -84.0192 |
| <3> | 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. |
| <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. |