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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 Bloomsburg (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 Bloomsburg. 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 doctors and 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.

Bloomsburg is located in Columbia County and is the County Seat.

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 Columbia County: Luzerne, Lycoming, Montour, Northumberland, Schuylkill & Sullivan.

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

  • Columbia County     (The home county of Bloomsburg)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bloomsburg, with the one closest to Bloomsburg listed first.
    • Fernville
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fernville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fernville
      • Fernville is located in Columbia County
    • Rupert
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Rupert. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rupert
      • Rupert is located in Columbia County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Rupert
      • From Bloomsburg to Rupert
    • Espy
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Lightstreet
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Buckhorn
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Almedia
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Catawissa
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Mordansville
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Mainville
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mainville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mainville
      • Mainville is located in Columbia County
    • Grovania
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Orangeville
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Lime Ridge
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lime Ridge have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lime Ridge
      • Lime Ridge is located in Columbia County
    • Eyers Grove
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Eyers Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eyers Grove
      • Eyers Grove is located in Columbia County
  • Carbon County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bloomsburg, with the one closest to Bloomsburg listed first.
    • Tresckow
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Coxes Village
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Beaver Meadows
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Beaver Meadows have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beaver Meadows
      • Beaver Meadows is located in Carbon County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 832 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Beaver Meadows <3>
  • Dauphin County
  • Luzerne County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bloomsburg, with the one closest to Bloomsburg listed first.
    • East Berwick
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Berwick have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Berwick
      • East Berwick is located in Luzerne County
    • Mountain Grove
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Nescopeck
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nescopeck have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nescopeck
      • Nescopeck is located in Luzerne County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,522 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Nescopeck <3>
    • New Columbus
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for New Columbus have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Columbus
      • New Columbus is located in Luzerne County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 227 people
    • Beach Haven
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Register
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Register. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Register
      • Register is located in Luzerne County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Register
      • From Bloomsburg to Register
    • Waterton
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Clarks View
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Huntington Mills
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Tomhicken
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Tomhicken. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tomhicken
      • Tomhicken is located in Luzerne County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Tomhicken
      • From Bloomsburg to Tomhicken
    • Fairmount Springs
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Harveyville
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Shickshinny
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
  • Lycoming County
  • Montour County
  • Northumberland County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bloomsburg, with the one closest to Bloomsburg listed first.
    • Elysburg
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elysburg have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elysburg
      • Elysburg is located in Northumberland County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elysburg <3>
    • Riverside
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Riverside have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverside
      • Riverside is located in Northumberland County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,839 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Riverside <3>
    • Marion Heights
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Marion Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marion Heights
      • Marion Heights is located in Northumberland County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 573 people
    • Rushtown
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Rushtown. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rushtown
      • Rushtown is located in Northumberland County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Rushtown
      • From Bloomsburg to Rushtown
    • Chulasky
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Chulasky. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chulasky
      • Chulasky is located in Northumberland County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Chulasky
      • From Bloomsburg to Chulasky
    • Bear Gap
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Natalie
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Mount Carmel
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mount Carmel have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Carmel
      • Mount Carmel is located in Northumberland County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,708 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mount Carmel <3>
    • Kulpmont
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kulpmont have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kulpmont
      • Kulpmont is located in Northumberland County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,735 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Kulpmont <3>
    • Dooleyville
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Snydertown
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Snydertown have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Snydertown
      • Snydertown is located in Northumberland County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 316 people
    • Marshallton
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Marshallton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marshallton
      • Marshallton is located in Northumberland County
    • Shamokin
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
  • Schuylkill County
  • Snyder County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bloomsburg, with the one closest to Bloomsburg listed first.
    • Shamokin Dam
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Hummels Wharf
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hummels Wharf have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hummels Wharf
      • Hummels Wharf is located in Snyder County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hummels Wharf <3>
    • Kratzerville
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kratzerville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kratzerville
      • Kratzerville is located in Snyder County
    • Selinsgrove
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Selinsgrove have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Selinsgrove
      • Selinsgrove is located in Snyder County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,913 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Selinsgrove <3>
    • Dundore
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Port Trevorton
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Freeburg
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Freeburg have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freeburg
      • Freeburg is located in Snyder County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 566 people
    • Kreamer
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kreamer have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kreamer
      • Kreamer is located in Snyder County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Kreamer <3>
  • Sullivan County
  • Union County

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

Cemeteries Near Bloomsburg ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Bloomsburg.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Bloomsburg, with the one closest to Bloomsburg 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.<8>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Bloomsburg had a population of 4,635 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Bloomsburg had a population of 13,749 people.

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

  • Rupert
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Rupert. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rupert
    • Rupert is located in Columbia County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Rupert
    • From Bloomsburg to Rupert
  • Paper Mill
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Paper Mill have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paper Mill
    • Paper Mill is located in Columbia County
  • Espy
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Lightstreet
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Buckhorn
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
  • Catawissa
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Almedia
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Mainville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mainville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mainville
    • Mainville is located in Columbia County
  • Mordansville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Orangeville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Welliversville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Lime Ridge
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lime Ridge have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lime Ridge
    • Lime Ridge is located in Columbia County
  • Continue List   (20 more) ...
    • Eyers Grove
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Eyers Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eyers Grove
      • Eyers Grove is located in Columbia County
    • Mifflinville
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mifflinville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mifflinville
      • Mifflinville is located in Columbia County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mifflinville <3>
    • Willow Springs
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Willow Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Springs
      • Willow Springs is located in Columbia County

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Bloomsburg ...

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 69 newspapers that have been published in the area around Bloomsburg.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Bloomsburg. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Bloomsburg and those printed in the larger area surrounding Bloomsburg.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 15 miles [24.1 km]<7> of Bloomsburg.

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 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 Bloomsburg:

The official website for Bloomsburg: www.bloomsburgpa.org/

The official website for Columbia County: www.columbiapa.org/county/

The official website for Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: https://www.pa.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<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>If we found a location and have questions about the accuracy of our information, we will simply say that the marker is 'in the vicinity'. We are not confident about the location and the position of our marker is only a rough guide. If we have too many doubts about the location, we will not include it in our database.
<5>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.
<6>To help visualize the location of the cemetery, we've drawn a straight line between the communities of Espy and Almedia. The cemetery can be found near that line and roughly halfway between the two communities. Remember that this is just an approximate location.
<7>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- Bloomsburg) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Bloomsburg. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.0044, Longitude: -76.4536    
<8>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 Bloomsburg, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025