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Home >> Commonwealth of Pennsylvania >> Allegheny County >> Allentown >> Genealogy HelperIndex...

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 Allentown (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 Allentown. 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 hospitals 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.

Allentown is located in Allegheny County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Allegheny County: Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Washington & Westmoreland.

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

  • Allegheny County     (The home county of Allentown)
  • Armstrong County
  • Beaver County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Allentown, with the one closest to Allentown listed first.
    • Ambridge
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • South Heights
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • South Heights is located in Beaver County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Heights
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 437 people
    • Gringo
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Crestmont Village
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Crestmont Village is located in Beaver County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crestmont Village
    • Economy
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Economy is located in Beaver County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Economy
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,022 people
    • Aliquippa
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Baden
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • New Sheffield
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Wallace City
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Wallace City is located in Beaver County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wallace City
    • Conway
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Knob
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Freedom
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Butler County
  • Fayette County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Allentown, with the one closest to Allentown listed first.
    • Belle Vernon
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Lynnwood
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Fairhope
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Arnold City
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Arnold City is located in Fayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arnold City
    • Brownstown
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Brownstown is located in Fayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brownstown
    • Fayette City
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Fayette City is located in Fayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fayette City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 569 people
    • Newell
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Banning
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Chamouni
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Kenneth
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Kenneth is located in Fayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kenneth
    • Fuller
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Fuller is located in Fayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fuller
    • Lynn
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Indiana County
  • Washington County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Allentown, with the one closest to Allentown listed first.
    • McMurray
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Thompsonville
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Finleyville
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Gastonville
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Gastonville is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gastonville
    • Ellsworth
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
      • Ellsworth is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ellsworth
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 960 people
    • MacDonald
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • McDonald
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • New Eagle
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Cokeburg
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Cokeburg is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cokeburg
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 603 people
    • Gilkeson
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Gilkeson is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gilkeson
    • Baidland
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • Baidland is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baidland
    • Canonsburg
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Westmoreland County

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

Cemeteries Near Allentown ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Allentown.

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

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

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

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 Allentown in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Allentown.

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

  • Beltzhoover
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Mount Washington
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
  • Carrick
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
  • Mount Oliver
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
  • Arlington
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Arlington is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arlington
  • Soho
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Soho is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Soho
  • Pittsburgh
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • Banksville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Banksville is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Banksville
  • Glenwood
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Glenwood is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenwood
  • Allegheny ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Allegheny is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Allegheny
  • West End
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • West End is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West End
  • Green Tree
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (25 more) ...
    • Woods Run
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Woods Run is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woods Run
    • Hays
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Hays is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hays
    • Crafton
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Allentown ...

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 560 newspapers that have been published in the area around Allentown.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Allentown. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Allentown and those printed in the larger area surrounding Allentown.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 6 miles [9.7 km]<4> of Allentown.

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 professional and volunteer 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 Allentown:

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