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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 Penn (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 Penn. 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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors 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.

Penn is located in Westmoreland 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 Westmoreland County: Allegheny, Armstrong, Butler, Cambria, Fayette, Indiana & Somerset.

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

  • Westmoreland County     (The home county of Penn)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Penn, with the one closest to Penn listed first.
    • Grapeville
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Grapeville is located in Westmoreland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grapeville
    • Jeannette
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Harrison City
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Manor
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Manor is located in Westmoreland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manor
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,322 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Manor <1>
    • Adamsburg
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Westmoreland City
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Westmoreland City is located in Westmoreland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westmoreland City
    • Claridge
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Shafton
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Shafton is located in Westmoreland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shafton
    • Radebaugh
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Irwin
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Irwin is located in Westmoreland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Irwin
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,716 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Irwin <1>
    • North Irwin
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • North Irwin is located in Westmoreland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Irwin
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 780 people
    • Arona
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Arona is located in Westmoreland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arona
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 343 people
    • Larimer
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Allegheny County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Penn, with the one closest to Penn listed first.
    • Pitcairn
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Wall
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Wall is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wall
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 553 people
    • East McKeesport
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Wilmerding
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Buena Vista
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Boston
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • North Versailles
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • White Oak
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Garden City
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Garden City is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden City
    • Monroeville
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Lincoln
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Lincoln is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,013 people
    • Riverton
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Riverton is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverton
    • Versailles
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Armstrong County
  • Butler County
  • Fayette County
  • Indiana County
  • Somerset County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Penn, with the one closest to Penn listed first.
    • Laurel Mountain Village
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Bakersville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Washington County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Penn, with the one closest to Penn listed first.
    • Donora
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Black Diamond
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Monongahela
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Riverview
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Riverview is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverview
    • Ellsworth
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Ellsworth is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ellsworth
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 960 people
    • New Eagle
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • North Charleroi
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
      • North Charleroi is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Charleroi
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,258 people
    • Baidland
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Baidland is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baidland
    • Charleroi
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Twilight
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Twilight is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twilight
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 224 people
    • Finleyville
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Gastonville
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Gastonville is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gastonville
    • Allenport
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Penn ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Penn.

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 Penn - one of the links might be able to help.

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Penn covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Penn, with the one closest to Penn 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.<3>

While we didn't find Penn in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Penn.

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

  • Harrison City
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • Adamsburg
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Grapeville
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Grapeville is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grapeville
  • Jeannette
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
  • Claridge
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Shafton
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Shafton is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shafton
  • Radebaugh
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Oakville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Oakville is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakville
  • Irwin
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Irwin is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Irwin
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,716 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Irwin <1>
  • Boquet
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Boquet is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boquet
  • Circleville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Circleville is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Circleville
  • Rillton
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Madison
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Greensburg
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Ardara
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Ardara is located in Westmoreland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ardara

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

Newspapers Published in Penn ...

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 Penn.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Penn, there are papers which were published within 10 miles [16.1 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Penn.

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 helpful 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 Penn:

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>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.
<3>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 Penn, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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- Penn) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.