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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 Pittston (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 Pittston. 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 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.

Pittston is located in Luzerne 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 Luzerne County: Carbon, Columbia, Lackawanna, Monroe, Schuylkill, Sullivan & Wyoming.

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

  • Luzerne County     (The home county of Pittston)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Pittston, with the one closest to Pittston listed first.
    • Hughestown
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hughestown have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hughestown
      • Hughestown is located in Luzerne County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,356 people
    • West Pittston
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Yatesville
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Yatesville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yatesville
      • Yatesville is located in Luzerne County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 613 people
    • Exeter
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Exeter have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Exeter
      • Exeter is located in Luzerne County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,519 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Exeter <2>
    • Avoca
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Dupont
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dupont have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dupont
      • Dupont is located in Luzerne County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,693 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Dupont <2>
    • Houston City
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Houston City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Houston City
      • Houston City is located in Luzerne County
    • Duryea
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Duryea have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duryea
      • Duryea is located in Luzerne County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,910 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Duryea <2>
    • Laflin
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Port Blanchard
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Wyoming
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wyoming have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wyoming
      • Wyoming is located in Luzerne County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,004 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wyoming <2>
    • Langdon
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Langdon. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Langdon
      • Langdon is located in Luzerne County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Langdon
      • From Pittston to Langdon
    • Hilldale
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Carbon County
  • Columbia County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Pittston, with the one closest to Pittston listed first.
    • Foundryville
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Foundryville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foundryville
      • Foundryville is located in Columbia County
    • Berwick
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jamison City
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Jamison City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jamison City
      • Jamison City is located in Columbia County
    • Jonestown
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Jonestown have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jonestown
      • Jonestown is located in Columbia County
  • Lackawanna County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Pittston, with the one closest to Pittston listed first.
    • Lawrenceville
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Belian Village
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Belian Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belian Village
      • Belian Village is located in Lackawanna County
    • Moosic
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Moosic have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moosic
      • Moosic is located in Lackawanna County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,813 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Moosic <2>
    • Old Forge
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Old Forge have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Forge
      • Old Forge is located in Lackawanna County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 7,838 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Old Forge <2>
    • Milwaukee
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Milwaukee. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milwaukee
      • Milwaukee is located in Lackawanna County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Milwaukee
      • From Pittston to Milwaukee
    • Taylor
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Taylor have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Taylor
      • Taylor is located in Lackawanna County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,879 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Taylor <2>
    • Scranton
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Spring Brook
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Schultzville
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Dunmore
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Green Ridge
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Green Ridge. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Ridge
      • Green Ridge is located in Lackawanna County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Green Ridge
      • From Pittston to Green Ridge
    • Clarks Summit
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clarks Summit have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clarks Summit
      • Clarks Summit is located in Lackawanna County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,843 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Clarks Summit <2>
    • Dickson City
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dickson City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dickson City
      • Dickson City is located in Lackawanna County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,731 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Dickson City <2>
  • Monroe County
  • Pike County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Pittston, with the one closest to Pittston listed first.
    • Ledgedale
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Ledgedale. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ledgedale
      • Ledgedale is located in Pike County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Ledgedale
      • From Pittston to Ledgedale
    • South Sterling
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • La Anna
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for La Anna. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Anna
      • La Anna is located in Pike County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to La Anna
      • From Pittston to La Anna
    • Panther
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Panther. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Panther
      • Panther is located in Pike County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Panther
      • From Pittston to Panther
  • Susquehanna County
  • Wayne County
  • Wyoming County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Pittston, with the one closest to Pittston listed first.
    • Mill City ‑ Historic
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mill City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mill City
      • Mill City is located in Wyoming County
    • Beaumont
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Vernon
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Lake Winola
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Osterhout
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • South Eaton
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Jenks
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Evans Falls
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Noxen
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Factoryville
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Dixon
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dixon have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dixon
      • Dixon is located in Wyoming County
    • Tunkhannock
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tunkhannock have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tunkhannock
      • Tunkhannock is located in Wyoming County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,674 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Tunkhannock <2>
    • Marcy
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Marcy. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marcy
      • Marcy is located in Wyoming County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Marcy
      • From Pittston to Marcy

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

Cemeteries Near Pittston ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Pittston.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Pittston, with the one closest to Pittston 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.<5>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Pittston had a population of 10,302 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Pittston had a population of 7,724 people.

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

  • West Pittston
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
  • Port Griffith
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Port Griffith have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Port Griffith
    • Port Griffith is located in Luzerne County
  • Sebastopol
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sebastopol have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sebastopol
    • Sebastopol is located in Luzerne County
  • Yatesville
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Yatesville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yatesville
    • Yatesville is located in Luzerne County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 613 people
  • Exeter
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Exeter have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Exeter
    • Exeter is located in Luzerne County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,519 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Exeter <2>
  • Wyoming
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wyoming have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wyoming
    • Wyoming is located in Luzerne County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,004 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wyoming <2>
  • Port Blanchard
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Inkerman
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Inkerman have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Inkerman
    • Inkerman is located in Luzerne County
  • Laflin
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • Harding
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Harding have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harding
    • Harding is located in Luzerne County
  • Dupont
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dupont have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dupont
    • Dupont is located in Luzerne County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,693 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Dupont <2>
  • Avoca
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Plainsville
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Plainsville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plainsville
      • Plainsville is located in Luzerne County
    • Plains
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Hudson
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hudson have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hudson
      • Hudson is located in Luzerne County

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Pittston ...

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 130 newspapers that have been published in the area around Pittston.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Pittston. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Pittston and those printed in the larger area surrounding Pittston.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 12 miles [19.3 km]<6> of Pittston.

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 Pittston:

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

The official website for Luzerne County: www.luzernecounty.org/

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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.
<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 Pittston, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>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 from Point A (ie- Pittston) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Pittston. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.3252, Longitude: -75.7881    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025