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 Bells Landing (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 Bells Landing. 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 Bells Landing ...
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 occur.
- A typical abbreviation for Bells Landing: Bells Lndg. (or less commonly used: Bells Lndng.)
- While the name of this community is Bells Landing, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Bells Landing may originally have been Bell's Landing.
Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Bells Landing might be written as Bell Landing.
You might be interested in other communities that are also named Bells Landing. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Bells Landing.
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 southwest 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 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 west 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.
Bells Landing is located in Clearfield 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 Clearfield County: Cameron, Centre, Clinton, Elk, Indiana & Jefferson.
Below are the counties that are near Bells Landing. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Bells Landing:
- Clearfield County (The home county of Bells Landing)
- The following are listed by their distance from Bells Landing, with the one closest to Bells Landing listed first.
- Curry Run
(Less than 2 miles to the west)
- Curry Run is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Curry Run
- Cherry Corner
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
- Cherry Corner is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherry Corner
- Bower
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
- Bower is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bower
- Lumber City
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
- Lumber City is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lumber City
- Estimated population in 2015: 75 people
- Grampian
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
- Newburg
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Newburg is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newburg
- Population from the 2020 Census: 94 people
- Gazzam
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Gazzam is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gazzam
- Mahaffey
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Mayes
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Mayes is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayes
- Thompsontown
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Thompsontown is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thompsontown
- Laborde
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
- Laborde is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Laborde
- Curwensville
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- Armstrong County
- Barnards
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
- Barnards is located in Armstrong County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barnards
- Blair County
- The following are listed by their distance from Bells Landing, with the one closest to Bells Landing listed first.
- Highland Fling
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
- Highland Fling is located in Blair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland Fling
- Tipton
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
- Tyrone
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
- Bellwood
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
- Grazierville
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
- Grazierville is located in Blair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grazierville
- Tyrone Forge
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
- Tyrone Forge is located in Blair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tyrone Forge
- Altoona
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
- Culp
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
- Culp is located in Blair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Culp
- Cambria County
- The following are listed by their distance from Bells Landing, with the one closest to Bells Landing listed first.
- Flinton
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
- Hastings
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
- Thomas Mills
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
- Thomas Mills is located in Cambria County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thomas Mills
- Fallentimber
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
- Barnesboro
(18 miles [29 km] to the south)
- Barnesboro is located in Cambria County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barnesboro
- Garmantown
(18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
- Garmantown is located in Cambria County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garmantown
- Northern Cambria
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- Northern Cambria is located in Cambria County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Northern Cambria
- Population from the 2020 Census: 3,456 people
- Patton
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- Spangler
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- Spangler is located in Cambria County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spangler
- West Branch
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- West Branch is located in Cambria County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Branch
- Saint Benedict
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
- Saint Benedict is located in Cambria County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Benedict
- Carrolltown
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
- Centre County
- The following are listed by their distance from Bells Landing, with the one closest to Bells Landing listed first.
- New Town
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
- New Town is located in Centre County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Town
- Glass City
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
- Glass City is located in Centre County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glass City
- Philipsburg
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
- Sandy Ridge
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
- Sandy Ridge is located in Centre County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Ridge
- South Philipsburg
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
- South Philipsburg is located in Centre County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Philipsburg
- North Philipsburg
(23 miles [37 km] to the east)
- North Philipsburg is located in Centre County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Philipsburg
- Casanova
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
- Casanova is located in Centre County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Casanova
- Elk County
- The following are listed by their distance from Bells Landing, with the one closest to Bells Landing listed first.
- Scattertown
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
- Scattertown is located in Elk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scattertown
- Brockport
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
- Challenge
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
- Challenge is located in Elk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Challenge
- Shawmut
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
- Shawmut is located in Elk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shawmut
- Byrnedale
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
- Horton City
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
- Horton City is located in Elk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horton City
- Caledonia
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
- Caledonia is located in Elk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Caledonia
- Kylers Corners
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
- Kylers Corners is located in Elk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kylers Corners
- Dagus Mines
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
- Dagus Mines is located in Elk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dagus Mines
- Benezette
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
- Huntingdon County
- The following are listed by their distance from Bells Landing, with the one closest to Bells Landing listed first.
- Pennington
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
- Pennington is located in Huntingdon County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pennington
- Birmingham
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
- Birmingham is located in Huntingdon County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Birmingham
- Population from the 2020 Census: 87 people
- Indiana County
- The following are listed by their distance from Bells Landing, with the one closest to Bells Landing listed first.
- Urey
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
- Urey is located in Indiana County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Urey
- Glen Campbell
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
- Johnsonburg
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
- Johnsonburg is located in Indiana County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johnsonburg
- Hooverhurst
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
- Hooverhurst is located in Indiana County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hooverhurst
- Rossiter
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
- Cherry Tree
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
- Cherry Tree is located in Indiana County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherry Tree
- Population from the 2020 Census: 334 people
- Hillsdale
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
- Hillsdale is located in Indiana County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillsdale
- Uniontown
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
- Uniontown is located in Indiana County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Uniontown
- Rochester Mills
(18 miles [29 km] to the west)
- Rochester Mills is located in Indiana County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rochester Mills
- Purchase Line
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
- Purchase Line is located in Indiana County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Purchase Line
- Marchand
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
- Marchand is located in Indiana County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marchand
- Savan
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
- Savan is located in Indiana County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Savan
- Jefferson County
- The following are listed by their distance from Bells Landing, with the one closest to Bells Landing listed first.
- Sykesville
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
- Winslow
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
- Winslow is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winslow
- Albion
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
- Albion is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Albion
- Prescottville
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
- Prescottville is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prescottville
- Wishaw
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
- Wishaw is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wishaw
- Punxsutawney
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
- Falls Creek
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
- Pancoast
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
- Pancoast is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pancoast
- Panic
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
- Panic is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Panic
- Reynoldsville
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
- Red Mill
(18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
- Red Mill is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Mill
- Sandy Valley
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
- Sandy Valley is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Valley
- Lawrence County
- Big Run
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
- Big Run is located in Lawrence County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Run
- Population from the 2020 Census: 594 people
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Bells Landing, see our County-by-County Page for Bells Landing.
Cemeteries Near Bells Landing ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Bells Landing.
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 Bells Landing - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Bells Landing covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Bells Landing, with the one closest to Bells Landing listed first.
- Watts Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the east)
- Cross Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
- Friends Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
- St. Bonaventure Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
- Mahaffey Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
- LaJose Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Zion Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Williams Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Ferguson Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Woods Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
- Rock Springs Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Snyder Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- Continue List (195 more) ...
- McClure Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Oak Hill Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- Sunderland Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 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.<3>
The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Bells Landing had a post office and no railroad service.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Bells Landing, with the one closest to Bells Landing listed first.
- Curry Run
(Less than 2 miles to the west)
- Curry Run is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Curry Run
- Bower
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
- Bower is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bower
- Kerrmoor
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
- Kerrmoor is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kerrmoor
- Lumber City
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
- Lumber City is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lumber City
- Estimated population in 2015: 75 people
- Ostend
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
- Ostend is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ostend
- Marron
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Marron is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marron
- Mahaffey
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Newburg
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Newburg is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newburg
- Population from the 2020 Census: 94 people
- Gazzam
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Gazzam is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gazzam
- McGees Mills
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- McGees Mills is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McGees Mills
- Mayes
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Mayes is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayes
- Ansonville
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
- Ansonville is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ansonville
- Continue List (17 more) ...
- New Millport
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- New Millport is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Millport
- New Washington
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- New Washington is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Washington
- Population from the 2020 Census: 54 people
- Berwinsdale
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Berwinsdale is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berwinsdale
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Bells Landing. See our List of 1890's Communities around Bells Landing.
Newspapers Published in Bells Landing ...
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 59 newspapers that have been published in the area around Bells Landing.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Bells Landing, there are papers which were published within 15 miles [24.1 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Bells Landing.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 Bells Landing:
- Websites specific to Pennsylvania
- Pages specific to Clearfield County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Armstrong County
- Blair County
- Cambria County
- Centre County
- Elk County
- Huntingdon County
- Indiana County
- Jefferson County
- Lawrence County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Pennsylvania
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> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <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 Bells Landing, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Bells Landing) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |