RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> Commonwealth of Pennsylvania >> Mifflin County >> Atkinson Mills >> 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 Atkinson Mills (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 Atkinson Mills. 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 Atkinson Mills ...

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 Atkinson Mills: Atkinson Mls. (or less commonly used: Atkinson Mlls.)

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 doctors and hospitals 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.

Atkinson Mills is located in Mifflin County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Mifflin County: Centre, Huntingdon, Juniata, Snyder & Union.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Atkinson Mills ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Atkinson Mills.

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

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

  • Brown Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Brown Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Brown Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Detweiler Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Detweiler Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Detweiler Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Newton Hamilton Memorial Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Newton Hamilton United Methodist Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Mountainview Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mountainview Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mountainview Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Shaver Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Shaver Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Shaver Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mt. Pleasant Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hartzler Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hartzler Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hartzler Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mattawana Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mattawana Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mattawana Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Old White Church Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old White Church Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old White Church Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Old Mill Creek Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old Mill Creek Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old Mill Creek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Fields Farm Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fields Farm Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fields Farm Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (307 more) ...
    • Mt. Union Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Union Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Union Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Huling Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Huling Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Huling Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Otelia Mennonite Church Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Otelia Mennonite Church Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Otelia Mennonite Church Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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 Atkinson Mills had a population of 146 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Vineyard
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Vineyard have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vineyard
    • Vineyard is located in Mifflin County
  • Ryde
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ryde have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ryde
    • Ryde is located in Mifflin County
  • Airydale
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Airydale have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Airydale
    • Airydale is located in Huntingdon County
  • Newton Hamilton
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Mount Union
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Mattawana
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • McVeytown
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for McVeytown have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McVeytown
    • McVeytown is located in Mifflin County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 330 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for McVeytown <1>
  • Allensville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Mill Creek
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Mapleton
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mapleton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mapleton
    • Mapleton is located in Huntingdon County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 410 people
  • Blacklog
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Blacklog have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blacklog
    • Blacklog is located in Juniata County
  • Horningford
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Horningford have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horningford
    • Horningford is located in Mifflin County
  • Continue List   (22 more) ...
    • Peru Mills
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Longfellow
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Longfellow have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longfellow
      • Longfellow is located in Mifflin County
    • Menno
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)

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

Newspapers Published in Atkinson Mills ...

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 36 newspapers that have been published in the area around Atkinson Mills.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Atkinson Mills, there are papers which were published within 18 miles [29 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Atkinson Mills.

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 Atkinson Mills:

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 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.
<3>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.
<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 Atkinson Mills, 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- Atkinson Mills) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Atkinson Mills. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.4552, Longitude: -77.8188