RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> Commonwealth of Pennsylvania >> Huntingdon County >> Blairs Mills >> Genealogy HelperIndex...










Learn About
The Commemorative
Quarter for
Pennsylvania

The Commemorative Quarter for Pennsylvania





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 Blairs 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 Blairs 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 Blairs 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.

  • A typical abbreviation for Blairs Mills: Blairs Mls. (or less commonly used: Blairs Mlls.)
  • While the name of this community is Blairs Mills, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Blairs Mills may originally have been Blair's Mills.

    Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Blairs Mills might be written as Blair Mills.

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 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.

Blairs Mills is located in Huntingdon 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 Huntingdon County: Bedford, Blair, Centre, Franklin, Fulton, Juniata & Mifflin.

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

  • Huntingdon County     (The home county of Blairs Mills)
  • Adams County
    • Trust
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Trust. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trust
      • Trust is located in Adams County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Trust
      • From Blairs Mills to Trust
  • Allegheny County
    • Bloomfield
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bloomfield have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bloomfield
      • Bloomfield is located in Allegheny County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,255 people
  • Bedford County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Blairs Mills, with the one closest to Blairs Mills listed first.
    • Saxton
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saxton have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saxton
      • Saxton is located in Bedford County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 679 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Saxton <3>
    • Coaldale
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Coaldale have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coaldale
      • Coaldale is located in Bedford County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 151 people
    • Riddlesburg
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Langdondale
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Blair County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Blairs Mills, with the one closest to Blairs Mills listed first.
    • Covedale
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Covedale. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Covedale
      • Covedale is located in Blair County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Covedale
      • From Blairs Mills to Covedale
    • Beavertown
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Beavertown have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beavertown
      • Beavertown is located in Blair County
    • Shellytown
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Williamsburg
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Williamsburg have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Williamsburg
      • Williamsburg is located in Blair County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,167 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Williamsburg <3>
    • Franklin Forge
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Clover Creek
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Oreminea
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Oreminea. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oreminea
      • Oreminea is located in Blair County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Oreminea
      • From Blairs Mills to Oreminea
    • Springfield Junction
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Royer
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Royer. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Royer
      • Royer is located in Blair County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Royer
      • From Blairs Mills to Royer
  • Cumberland County
  • Franklin County
  • Fulton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Blairs Mills, with the one closest to Blairs Mills listed first.
    • Burnt Cabins
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Clear Ridge
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Fort Littleton
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fort Littleton have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Littleton
      • Fort Littleton is located in Fulton County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fort Littleton <3>
    • Waterfall
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Knobsville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Laidig
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Laidig. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Laidig
      • Laidig is located in Fulton County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Laidig
      • From Blairs Mills to Laidig
    • Harrisonville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Harrisonville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harrisonville
      • Harrisonville is located in Fulton County
    • Wells Tannery
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • McConnellsburg
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for McConnellsburg have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McConnellsburg
      • McConnellsburg is located in Fulton County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 999 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for McConnellsburg <3>
    • Valley-Hi
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Valley-Hi have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley-Hi
      • Valley-Hi is located in Fulton County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 15 people
  • Juniata County
  • Mifflin County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Blairs Mills, with the one closest to Blairs Mills listed first.
    • Kistler
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kistler have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kistler
      • Kistler is located in Mifflin County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 315 people
    • Newton Hamilton
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Newton Hamilton have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newton Hamilton
      • Newton Hamilton is located in Mifflin County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 198 people
    • Atkinson Mills
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Mattawana
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • McVeytown
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for McVeytown have been provided by the GNIS.<4> 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 <3>
    • Anderson
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Anderson. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Anderson
      • Anderson is located in Mifflin County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Anderson
      • From Blairs Mills to Anderson
    • Allensville
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Menno
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Belleville
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Belleville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belleville
      • Belleville is located in Mifflin County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Belleville <3>
    • Juniata Terrace
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Juniata Terrace have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Juniata Terrace
      • Juniata Terrace is located in Mifflin County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 533 people
    • Lewistown Junction
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Lewistown
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
  • Perry County

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

Cemeteries Near Blairs Mills ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Blairs 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 Blairs Mills covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Elf Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Elf Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Elf Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mt. Zion Church Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Zion Church Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Zion Church Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jeffries Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jeffries Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Jeffries Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • United Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the United Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the United Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Shade Valley Union Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Shade Valley Union Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Shade Valley Union Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jones / Chapman / Parson Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jones / Chapman / Parson Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Jones / Chapman / Parson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Polk Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Polk Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Polk Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Richvale Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Richvale Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Richvale Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Nossville Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Nossville Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Nossville Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • McCaskey Graves
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the McCaskey Graves
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the McCaskey Graves have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Barkley Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Barkley Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Barkley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Shope Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Shope Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Shope Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (253 more) ...
    • Eby Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Eby Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Eby Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Crow Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Crow Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Crow Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • McWilliams Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the McWilliams Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the McWilliams Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> 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 in 1895, Blairs Mills had a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Waterloo
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Waterloo. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waterloo
    • Waterloo is located in Juniata County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Waterloo
    • From Blairs Mills to Waterloo
  • Culbertson
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Culbertson have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Culbertson
    • Culbertson is located in Franklin County
  • Concord
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Nossville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nossville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nossville
    • Nossville is located in Huntingdon County
  • Doylesburg
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Doylesburg have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Doylesburg
    • Doylesburg is located in Franklin County
  • Peru Mills
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Dry Run
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • New Germantown
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • East Waterford
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Waterford have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Waterford
    • East Waterford is located in Juniata County
  • Shirleysburg
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Orbisonia
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Newbridge
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Newbridge. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newbridge
    • Newbridge is located in Franklin County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Newbridge
    • From Blairs Mills to Newbridge
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Blacklog
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Blacklog have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blacklog
      • Blacklog is located in Juniata County
    • Rockhill
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Ryde
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ryde have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ryde
      • Ryde is located in Mifflin County

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

Newspapers Published in Blairs 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 45 newspapers that have been published in the area around Blairs Mills.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Blairs Mills, there are papers which were published within 19 miles [30.6 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Blairs Mills.

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 Blairs Mills:

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

The official website for Huntingdon County: www.huntingdoncounty.net/

The official website for Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: https://www.pa.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>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 Blairs 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Blairs Mills) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Blairs Mills. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.2835, Longitude: -77.7182    









 

Copyright 2025
All Rights Reserved

Thank you for visiting our website.

In closing, please keep in mind that we can not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information on this website, so use with care. We encourage you to double-check the information that is critical to you.

If you've found an error or have additional information that you would like to share, please don't hesitate to write: Click here to contact us.

This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025