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 Falls Creek (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 Falls Creek. 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 Falls Creek ...
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 Falls Creek: Falls Crk. (or less commonly used: Falls Ck. or Falls Cr.)
- While the name of this community is Falls Creek, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Falls Creek may originally have been Fall's Creek.
Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Falls Creek might be written as Fall Creek.
You might be interested in other communities that are also named Falls Creek. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Falls Creek.
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 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 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.
Falls Creek is primarily located in Jefferson County. A portion of Falls Creek extends into 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 Jefferson County: Armstrong, Clarion, Clearfield, Elk, Forest & Indiana.
Below are the counties that are near Falls Creek. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Falls Creek:
- Jefferson County (The home county of Falls Creek)
- The following are listed by their distance from Falls Creek, with the one closest to Falls Creek listed first.
- Red Mill
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
- Red Mill is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Mill
- Pancoast
(Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
- Pancoast is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pancoast
- Prescottville
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
- Prescottville is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prescottville
- Sandy Valley
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Sandy Valley is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Valley
- Reynoldsville
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Allens Mills
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
- Allens Mills is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Allens Mills
- Sykesville
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Crenshaw
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
- Crenshaw is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crenshaw
- Brockway
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
- Wishaw
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- Wishaw is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wishaw
- Hazen
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
- Hazen is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hazen
- Fuller
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
- Fuller is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fuller
- Armstrong County
- The following are listed by their distance from Falls Creek, with the one closest to Falls Creek listed first.
- McWilliams
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
- McWilliams is located in Armstrong County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McWilliams
- Millville
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
- Millville is located in Armstrong County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millville
- Eddyville
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
- Eddyville is located in Armstrong County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eddyville
- Dayton
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
- South Bethlehem
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
- South Bethlehem is located in Armstrong County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Bethlehem
- Population from the 2020 Census: 443 people
- Putneyville
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
- Putneyville is located in Armstrong County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Putneyville
- Clarion County
- The following are listed by their distance from Falls Creek, with the one closest to Falls Creek listed first.
- Cooksburg
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
- Crates
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
- Crates is located in Clarion County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crates
- Day
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
- Day is located in Clarion County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Day
- Waterson
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
- Waterson is located in Clarion County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waterson
- Frogtown
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- Frogtown is located in Clarion County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frogtown
- Hawthorn
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- Mechanicsville
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
- Mechanicsville is located in Clarion County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mechanicsville
- Strattanville
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
- Fairmont City
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
- Helen Furnace
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
- Helen Furnace is located in Clarion County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Helen Furnace
- Crown
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
- Crown is located in Clarion County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crown
- Brinkerton
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
- Brinkerton is located in Clarion County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brinkerton
- Clearfield County
- The following are listed by their distance from Falls Creek, with the one closest to Falls Creek listed first.
- DuBois
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
- Sandy
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
- Sandy is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy
- Treasure Lake
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Treasure Lake is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Treasure Lake
- Stanley
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Stanley is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stanley
- Helvetia
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Helvetia is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Helvetia
- Luthersburg
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Troutville
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
- Troutville is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Troutville
- Population from the 2020 Census: 222 people
- Rockton
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- Rockton is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockton
- Winterburn
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
- Winterburn is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winterburn
- Laborde
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
- Laborde is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Laborde
- Tyler
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
- Tyler is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tyler
- Grampian
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
- Elk County
- The following are listed by their distance from Falls Creek, with the one closest to Falls Creek listed first.
- Brockport
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
- Shawmut
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
- Shawmut is located in Elk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shawmut
- Horton City
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
- Horton City is located in Elk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horton City
- Challenge
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
- Challenge is located in Elk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Challenge
- Kylers Corners
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
- Kylers Corners is located in Elk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kylers Corners
- Lake City
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
- Scattertown
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
- Scattertown is located in Elk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scattertown
- Dagus Mines
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
- Dagus Mines is located in Elk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dagus Mines
- Byrnedale
(18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
- Hallton
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
- Hallton is located in Elk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hallton
- Ridgway
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
- Caledonia
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
- Caledonia is located in Elk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Caledonia
- Forest County
- The following are listed by their distance from Falls Creek, with the one closest to Falls Creek listed first.
- Clarington
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Redclyffe
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
- Redclyffe is located in Forest County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Redclyffe
- Gilfoyle
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
- Gilfoyle is located in Forest County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gilfoyle
- Marienville
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
- Marienville is located in Forest County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marienville
- Roses
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
- Roses is located in Forest County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roses
- Iron City
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
- Iron City is located in Forest County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iron City
- Indiana County
- The following are listed by their distance from Falls Creek, with the one closest to Falls Creek listed first.
- Johnsonburg
(18 miles [29 km] to the south)
- Johnsonburg is located in Indiana County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johnsonburg
- Rossiter
(18 miles [29 km] to the south)
- Urey
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
- Urey is located in Indiana County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Urey
- Glen Campbell
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
- Marchand
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
- Marchand is located in Indiana County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marchand
- Hooverhurst
(23 miles [37 km] to the south)
- Hooverhurst is located in Indiana County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hooverhurst
- Trade City
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
- Trade City is located in Indiana County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trade City
- Mottarns Mill
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
- Mottarns Mill is located in Indiana County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mottarns Mill
- Rochester Mills
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
- Rochester Mills is located in Indiana County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rochester Mills
- Savan
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
- Savan is located in Indiana County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Savan
- Georgeville
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
- Georgeville is located in Indiana County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Georgeville
- Hillsdale
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
- Hillsdale is located in Indiana County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillsdale
- Lawrence County
- Big Run
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- 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 Falls Creek, see our County-by-County Page for Falls Creek.
Cemeteries Near Falls Creek ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Falls Creek.
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 Falls Creek - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Falls Creek covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Falls Creek, with the one closest to Falls Creek listed first.
- St. Michaels Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
- St. Josephs Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
- St. Catherines Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
- Rumbarger Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
- Greenwood Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
- Beechwoods Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- St. Marys Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for St. Marys Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the St. Marys Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the north of Reynoldsville.
- The St. Marys Cemetery has also been known as:
- St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1111986 <3>
- Prospect Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
- Salem Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Morningside Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Beulah Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Salem UMC Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salem UMC Cemetery
- The Salem UMC Cemetery has also been known as:
- New Salem Cemetery
- Salem Methodist Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #46287 <3>
- Continue List (133 more) ...
- Lakelawn Memorial Park
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Reynoldsville Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Soldier Hill Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
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.<4>
The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Falls Creek had a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Falls Creek had a population of 994 people.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Falls Creek, with the one closest to Falls Creek listed first.
- Pancoast
(Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
- Pancoast is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pancoast
- DuBois
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
- Harveys Run
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
- Harveys Run is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harveys Run
- Rathmel
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
- Rathmel is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rathmel
- Sandy Valley
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Sandy Valley is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Valley
- Beechtree
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
- Beechtree is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beechtree
- Prescottville
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
- Prescottville is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prescottville
- McMinns Summit
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
- McMinns Summit is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McMinns Summit
- Reynoldsville
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Stanley
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Stanley is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stanley
- Narrows Creek
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Narrows Creek is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Narrows Creek
- Coal Glen
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Coal Glen is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coal Glen
- Continue List (18 more) ...
- Lanes Mills
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
- Lanes Mills is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lanes Mills
- Sykesville
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Helvetia
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Helvetia is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Helvetia
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Falls Creek. See our List of 1890's Communities around Falls Creek.
Newspapers Published in Falls Creek ...
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 56 newspapers that have been published in the area around Falls Creek.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Falls Creek, there are papers which were published within 16 miles [25.7 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Falls Creek.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we start with 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 Falls Creek:
- Websites specific to Pennsylvania
- Pages specific to Jefferson County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Armstrong County
- Clarion County
- Clearfield County
- Elk County
- Forest County
- Indiana 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> | 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. |
| <4> | 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 Falls Creek, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <5> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Falls Creek) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |