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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 Hector (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 Hector. 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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.

Hector is located in Potter 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 Potter County: Allegany (NY), Steuben (NY), Cameron, Clinton, Lycoming, McKean & Tioga.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Hector ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Hector.

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

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

  • Lovel Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lovel Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lovel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Larrison Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Larrison Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Larrison Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Riverview Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Krusen Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Krusen Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Krusen Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Ackley Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ackley Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ackley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Swimley Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Swimley Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Swimley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Champlin Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Mt. Pleasant Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Baker Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Baker Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Baker Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Plank Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Plank Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Plank Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Ulysses Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Phoenix Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Phoenix Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Phoenix Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (188 more) ...

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, Hector had a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Mixtown
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mixtown have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mixtown
    • Mixtown is located in Tioga County
  • Sunderlinville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Potter Brook
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Loucks Mills
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Loucks Mills have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loucks Mills
    • Loucks Mills is located in Potter County
  • Sabinsville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sabinsville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sabinsville
    • Sabinsville is located in Tioga County
  • Elmer
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Elmer. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elmer
    • Elmer is located in Potter County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Elmer
    • From Hector to Elmer
  • Harrison Valley
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Westfield
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Gurnee
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Gurnee. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gurnee
    • Gurnee is located in Tioga County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Gurnee
    • From Hector to Gurnee
  • Mills
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mills have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mills
    • Mills is located in Potter County
  • West Pike
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Pike have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Pike
    • West Pike is located in Potter County
  • Cowanesque
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (18 more) ...
    • Sylvester
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sylvester have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sylvester
      • Sylvester is located in Tioga County
    • Ulysses
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • North Fork
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)

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

Newspapers Published in Hector ...

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 Hector.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Hector, there are papers which were published within 22 miles [35.4 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Hector.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 Hector:

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

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<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 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.
<4>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.
<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 Hector, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Hector) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Hector. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.8626, Longitude: -77.6186    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025