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

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

Cooks Mills is located in Bedford 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 Bedford County: Allegany (MD), Blair, Cambria, Fulton, Huntingdon & Somerset.

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

  • Bedford County     (The home county of Cooks Mills)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cooks Mills, with the one closest to Cooks Mills listed first.
    • Stringtown
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Hyndman
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hyndman have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hyndman
      • Hyndman is located in Bedford County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 854 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hyndman <3>
    • Beans Cove
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Rainsburg
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rainsburg have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rainsburg
      • Rainsburg is located in Bedford County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 128 people
    • Kegg
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Kegg. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kegg
      • Kegg is located in Bedford County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Kegg
      • From Cooks Mills to Kegg
    • Charlesville
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Manns Choice
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Manns Choice have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manns Choice
      • Manns Choice is located in Bedford County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 283 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Manns Choice <3>
    • Purcell
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Schellsburg
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Schellsburg have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Schellsburg
      • Schellsburg is located in Bedford County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 317 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Schellsburg <3>
    • Robinsonville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Bedford
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bedford have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bedford
      • Bedford is located in Bedford County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,667 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bedford <3>
    • Ott Town
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Ott Town. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ott Town
      • Ott Town is located in Bedford County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Ott Town
      • From Cooks Mills to Ott Town
  • Fulton County
  • Somerset County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cooks Mills, with the one closest to Cooks Mills listed first.
    • Wellersburg
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Wellersburg. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wellersburg
      • Wellersburg is located in Somerset County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 169 people
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Wellersburg
      • From Cooks Mills to Wellersburg
    • Fairhope
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Johnsburg
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Johnsburg have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johnsburg
      • Johnsburg is located in Somerset County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Johnsburg <3>
    • Wittenberg
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Callimont
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Callimont have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Callimont
      • Callimont is located in Somerset County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 38 people
    • Hays Mill
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Glade City
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Glade City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glade City
      • Glade City is located in Somerset County
    • Meyersdale
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • New Baltimore
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Berlin
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Berlin have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berlin
      • Berlin is located in Somerset County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,931 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Berlin <3>
    • Downey
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Downey. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Downey
      • Downey is located in Somerset County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Downey
      • From Cooks Mills to Downey
    • Pine Hill
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Pine Hill. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Hill
      • Pine Hill is located in Somerset County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Pine Hill
      • From Cooks Mills to Pine Hill
  • Allegany County (MD)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cooks Mills, with the one closest to Cooks Mills listed first.
    • Ellerslie
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ellerslie have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ellerslie
      • Ellerslie is located in Allegany County (MD)
    • Corriganville
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Corriganville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Corriganville
      • Corriganville is located in Allegany County (MD)
    • Cumberland
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Barrelville
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Shanty Town ‑ Historic
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shanty Town have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shanty Town
      • Shanty Town is located in Allegany County (MD)
    • La Vale
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Mount Savage
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mount Savage have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Savage
      • Mount Savage is located in Allegany County (MD)
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mount Savage <3>
    • Flintstone
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Flintstone have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flintstone
      • Flintstone is located in Allegany County (MD)
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Flintstone <3>
    • Rush
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Rush. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rush
      • Rush is located in Allegany County (MD)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Rush
      • From Cooks Mills to Rush
    • Clarysville
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Eckhart Mines
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Zihlman
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Garrett County (MD)
  • Washington County (MD)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cooks Mills, with the one closest to Cooks Mills listed first.
    • Pearre
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Pearre. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pearre
      • Pearre is located in Washington County (MD)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Pearre
      • From Cooks Mills to Pearre
    • Hancock
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
  • Hampshire County (WV)
  • Mineral County (WV)
  • Morgan County (WV)

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

Cemeteries Near Cooks Mills ...

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Cooks Mills, with the one closest to Cooks Mills 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.<7>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Cooks Mills had a population of 100 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service.

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

  • Ellerslie
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ellerslie have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ellerslie
    • Ellerslie is located in Allegany County (MD)
  • State Line
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for State Line have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for State Line
    • State Line is located in Bedford County
  • Hazen
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hazen have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hazen
    • Hazen is located in Allegany County (MD)
  • Corriganville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Corriganville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Corriganville
    • Corriganville is located in Allegany County (MD)
  • Kreigbaum
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kreigbaum have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kreigbaum
    • Kreigbaum is located in Allegany County (MD)
  • Mount Savage Junction
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mount Savage Junction have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Savage Junction
    • Mount Savage Junction is located in Allegany County (MD)
  • Wellersburg
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Wellersburg. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wellersburg
    • Wellersburg is located in Somerset County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 169 people
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Wellersburg
    • From Cooks Mills to Wellersburg
  • Williams
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Williams have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Williams
    • Williams is located in Somerset County
  • Hoblitzell
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hoblitzell have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hoblitzell
    • Hoblitzell is located in Bedford County
  • Barrelville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Cumberland
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Fairhope
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Hyndman
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hyndman have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hyndman
      • Hyndman is located in Bedford County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 854 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hyndman <3>
    • Foley
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Foley have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foley
      • Foley is located in Somerset County
    • Ridgeley
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)

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

Newspapers Published in Cooks 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 35 newspapers that have been published in the area around Cooks Mills.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Cooks Mills, there are papers which were published within 16 miles [25.7 km]<8>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Cooks 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 websites either 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 Cooks Mills:

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

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>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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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.
<5>The Maryland Historical Trust (MHT) has created and maintains a database of historic properties that is called MIHP (for the Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties). More information about the MHT and MIHP can be found on their website: mht.maryland.gov.
<6>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.
<7>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 Cooks Mills, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<8>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Cooks Mills) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Cooks Mills. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.7493, Longitude: -78.7414       In this case, the coordinates for Cooks Mills have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025