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 McMinns Summit (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 McMinns Summit. 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 McMinns Summit ...
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.
While the name of this community is McMinns Summit, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So McMinns Summit may originally have been McMinn's Summit.
Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case McMinns Summit might be written as McMinn Summit.
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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals 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.
McMinns Summit is located in Jefferson 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 McMinns Summit. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to McMinns Summit:
- Jefferson County (The home county of McMinns Summit)
- The following are listed by their distance from McMinns Summit, with the one closest to McMinns Summit listed first.
- Crenshaw
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
- Crenshaw is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crenshaw
- Brockway
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
- Falls Creek
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Red Mill
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
- Red Mill is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Mill
- Pancoast
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Pancoast is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pancoast
- Allens Mills
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Allens Mills is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Allens Mills
- Sandy Valley
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Sandy Valley is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Valley
- Prescottville
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- Prescottville is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prescottville
- Reynoldsville
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- Warsaw
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
- Warsaw is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warsaw
- Munderf
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
- Munderf is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Munderf
- Schoffner Corner
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
- Schoffner Corner is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Schoffner Corner
- Hazen
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
- Hazen is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hazen
- Armstrong County
- The following are listed by their distance from McMinns Summit, with the one closest to McMinns Summit listed first.
- McWilliams
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
- McWilliams is located in Armstrong County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McWilliams
- Millville
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
- Millville is located in Armstrong County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millville
- Cameron County
- Beechwood
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
- Beechwood is located in Cameron County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beechwood
- Clarion County
- The following are listed by their distance from McMinns Summit, with the one closest to McMinns Summit listed first.
- Cooksburg
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
- Day
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
- Day is located in Clarion County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Day
- Crates
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- Crates is located in Clarion County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crates
- Waterson
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- Waterson is located in Clarion County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waterson
- Crown
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
- Crown is located in Clarion County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crown
- Frogtown
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
- Frogtown is located in Clarion County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frogtown
- 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
- Strattanville
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
- Leeper
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
- Hawthorn
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
- Mechanicsville
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
- Mechanicsville is located in Clarion County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mechanicsville
- Clearfield County
- The following are listed by their distance from McMinns Summit, with the one closest to McMinns Summit listed first.
- Treasure Lake
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
- Treasure Lake is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Treasure Lake
- DuBois
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Sandy
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Sandy is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy
- Winterburn
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
- Winterburn is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winterburn
- Helvetia
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Helvetia is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Helvetia
- Luthersburg
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Stanley
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Stanley is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stanley
- Rockton
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
- Rockton is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockton
- Troutville
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Troutville is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Troutville
- Population from the 2020 Census: 222 people
- Tyler
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
- Tyler is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tyler
- Laborde
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
- Laborde is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Laborde
- Grampian
(18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
- Curry Run
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
- Curry Run is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Curry Run
- Elk County
- The following are listed by their distance from McMinns Summit, with the one closest to McMinns Summit listed first.
- Brockport
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- Horton City
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Horton City is located in Elk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horton City
- Shawmut
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Shawmut is located in Elk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shawmut
- Challenge
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- Challenge is located in Elk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Challenge
- Kylers Corners
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- Kylers Corners is located in Elk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kylers Corners
- Lake City
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
- Scattertown
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
- Scattertown is located in Elk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scattertown
- Dagus Mines
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
- Dagus Mines is located in Elk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dagus Mines
- Ridgway
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
- Byrnedale
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
- Hallton
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
- Hallton is located in Elk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hallton
- Caledonia
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
- Caledonia is located in Elk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Caledonia
- Whistletown
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
- Whistletown is located in Elk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whistletown
- Forest County
- The following are listed by their distance from McMinns Summit, with the one closest to McMinns Summit listed first.
- Clarington
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
- Redclyffe
(23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
- Redclyffe is located in Forest County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Redclyffe
- Marienville
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
- Marienville is located in Forest County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marienville
- Gilfoyle
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
- Gilfoyle is located in Forest County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gilfoyle
- Roses
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
- Roses is located in Forest County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roses
- Iron City
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
- Iron City is located in Forest County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iron City
- Sheffield Junction
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
- Sheffield Junction is located in Forest County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sheffield Junction
- Indiana County
- The following are listed by their distance from McMinns Summit, with the one closest to McMinns Summit listed first.
- Johnsonburg
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
- Johnsonburg is located in Indiana County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johnsonburg
- Rossiter
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
- Urey
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
- Urey is located in Indiana County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Urey
- Glen Campbell
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
- Hooverhurst
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
- Hooverhurst is located in Indiana County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hooverhurst
- Marchand
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
- Marchand is located in Indiana County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marchand
- Trade City
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
- Trade City is located in Indiana County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trade City
- Rochester Mills
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
- Rochester Mills is located in Indiana County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rochester Mills
- Savan
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
- Savan is located in Indiana County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Savan
- Mottarns Mill
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
- Mottarns Mill is located in Indiana County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mottarns Mill
- Georgeville
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
- Georgeville is located in Indiana County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Georgeville
- Lawrence County
- Big Run
(17 miles [27.4 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 McMinns Summit, see our County-by-County Page for McMinns Summit.
Cemeteries Near McMinns Summit ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of McMinns Summit.
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 McMinns Summit - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for McMinns Summit covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from McMinns Summit, with the one closest to McMinns Summit listed first.
- Wildwood Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
- Greenwood Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
- St. Tobias Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
- Beechwoods Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Bundy Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bundy Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Bundy Cemetery is located 6 miles [9.7 km]<3> to the northeast of DuBois.
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #44475 <4>
- Brockport Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- St. Michaels Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- St. Josephs Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- St. Catherines Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Sugar Hill Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Rumbarger Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Morningside Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
- Continue List (121 more) ...
- Conway Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- St. Marys Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 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 <4>
- Prospect Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 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.<5>
The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, McMinns Summit had railroad service and no post office.
These communities are listed based on their distance from McMinns Summit, with the one closest to McMinns Summit listed first.
- Lanes Mills
(Less than 2 miles to the north)
- Lanes Mills is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lanes Mills
- Harveys Run
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
- Harveys Run is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harveys Run
- Beechtree
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
- Beechtree is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beechtree
- Crenshaw
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
- Crenshaw is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crenshaw
- Falls Creek
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Brockport
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- Coal Glen
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Coal Glen is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coal Glen
- Pancoast
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Pancoast is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pancoast
- DuBois
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Cartwright
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Cartwright is located in Elk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cartwright
- Narrows Creek
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
- Narrows Creek is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Narrows Creek
- Sabula
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
- Sabula is located in Clearfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sabula
- Continue List (21 more) ...
- Sugar Hill
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
- Sugar Hill is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar Hill
- Allens Mills
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Allens Mills is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Allens Mills
- Sandy Valley
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Sandy Valley is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Valley
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around McMinns Summit. See our List of 1890's Communities around McMinns Summit.
Newspapers Published in McMinns Summit ...
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 McMinns Summit.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of McMinns Summit, there are papers which were published within 16 miles [25.7 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for McMinns Summit.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we like to 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 McMinns Summit:
- Websites specific to Pennsylvania
- Pages specific to Jefferson County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Armstrong County
- Cameron 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> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- McMinns Summit) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <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 McMinns Summit, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |