RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> Commonwealth of Pennsylvania >> Luzerne County >> Pleasant Valley >> Genealogy HelperIndex...










Learn About
The Commemorative
Quarter for
Pennsylvania

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 Pleasant Valley (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 Pleasant Valley. 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 Pleasant Valley ...

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 have occurred.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Pleasant Valley: Pleasant Vly. (or less commonly used: Pleasant Vally. or Pleasant Vlly.)

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 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.

Pleasant Valley 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 Pleasant Valley. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Pleasant Valley:

  • Luzerne County     (The home county of Pleasant Valley)
  • Bradford County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Pleasant Valley, with the one closest to Pleasant Valley listed first.
    • Wilmot
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Wilmot. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilmot
      • Wilmot is located in Bradford County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Wilmot
      • From Pleasant Valley to Wilmot
    • Laddsburg
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Overton
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Overton. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Overton
      • Overton is located in Bradford County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Overton
      • From Pleasant Valley to Overton
    • Evergreen
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • New Era
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Sugar Run
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • New Albany
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for New Albany have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Albany
      • New Albany is located in Bradford County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 335 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for New Albany <2>
    • Wyalusing
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Marshview
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
  • Carbon County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Pleasant Valley, with the one closest to Pleasant Valley listed first.
    • Coxes Village
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Tresckow
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Beaver Meadows
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Beaver Meadows have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beaver Meadows
      • Beaver Meadows is located in Carbon County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 832 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Beaver Meadows <2>
    • Hudsondale
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Weatherly
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
    • East Side
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Side have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Side
      • East Side is located in Carbon County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 301 people
    • Leslie Run
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Columbia County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Pleasant Valley, with the one closest to Pleasant Valley listed first.
    • Jamison City
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Jamison City have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jamison City
      • Jamison City is located in Columbia County
    • Jonestown
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Jonestown have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jonestown
      • Jonestown is located in Columbia County
    • Benton
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Stillwater
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Waller
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Waller have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waller
      • Waller is located in Columbia County
    • Zaner
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Foundryville
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Foundryville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foundryville
      • Foundryville is located in Columbia County
    • Jackson
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Berwick
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Rohrsburg
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rohrsburg have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rohrsburg
      • Rohrsburg is located in Columbia County
    • Briar Creek
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Coles Mill
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Greenwood
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Lackawanna County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Pleasant Valley, with the one closest to Pleasant Valley listed first.
    • Lawrenceville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Milwaukee
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Old Forge
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Old Forge have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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>
    • Belian Village
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Belian Village have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belian Village
      • Belian Village is located in Lackawanna County
    • Moosic
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Moosic have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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>
    • Taylor
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Taylor have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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>
    • Schultzville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Lycoming County
  • Montour County
  • Northumberland County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Pleasant Valley, with the one closest to Pleasant Valley listed first.
    • Riverside
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Riverside have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverside
      • Riverside is located in Northumberland County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,839 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Riverside <2>
    • Chulasky
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Chulasky. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chulasky
      • Chulasky is located in Northumberland County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Chulasky
      • From Pleasant Valley to Chulasky
    • Turbotville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Turbotville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turbotville
      • Turbotville is located in Northumberland County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 662 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Turbotville <2>
    • Elysburg
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elysburg have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elysburg
      • Elysburg is located in Northumberland County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elysburg <2>
    • Rushtown
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Rushtown. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rushtown
      • Rushtown is located in Northumberland County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Rushtown
      • From Pleasant Valley to Rushtown
  • Schuylkill County
  • Sullivan County
  • Wyoming County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Pleasant Valley, with the one closest to Pleasant Valley listed first.
    • Noxen
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Beaumont
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Mill City ‑ Historic
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mill City have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mill City
      • Mill City is located in Wyoming County
    • Evans Falls
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Forkston
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Forkston. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forkston
      • Forkston is located in Wyoming County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Forkston
      • From Pleasant Valley to Forkston
    • Vernon
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Jenks
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Stowell
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Stowell. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stowell
      • Stowell is located in Wyoming County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Stowell
      • From Pleasant Valley to Stowell
    • Jenningsville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Mehoopany Station
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • South Eaton
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Osterhout
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Tunkhannock
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tunkhannock have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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>

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

Cemeteries Near Pleasant Valley ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Pleasant Valley.

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

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

  • Broadway Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • Goss Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • Pine Grove Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • Benscoter Family Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Benscoter Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Scott Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Scott Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Scott Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Marvin Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Marvin Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Marvin Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Thompson Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Thompson Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Thompson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Boston Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Boston Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Boston Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Dodson Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Dodson Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Dodson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Graveyard Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Graveyard Hill
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Graveyard Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Casimirs Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Casimirs Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Casimirs Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (194 more) ...
    • Oaklawn Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Oaklawn Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Oaklawn Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Lateer Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lateer Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lateer Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Raven Creek Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)

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.<7>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Pleasant Valley had railroad service and no post office.

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

  • Rittenhouse
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • Harveyville
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
  • Bloomingdale
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
  • Clarks View
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Register
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Register. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Register
    • Register is located in Luzerne County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Register
    • From Pleasant Valley to Register
  • Huntington Mills
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Cambra
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cambra have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cambra
    • Cambra is located in Luzerne County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cambra <2>
  • Town Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Town Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Town Hill
    • Town Hill is located in Luzerne County
  • Muhlenberg
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Muhlenberg have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muhlenberg
    • Muhlenberg is located in Luzerne County
  • Red Rock
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Red Rock. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Rock
    • Red Rock is located in Luzerne County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Red Rock
    • From Pleasant Valley to Red Rock
  • Ripple ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ripple have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ripple
    • Ripple is located in Luzerne County
  • New Columbus
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for New Columbus have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Columbus
    • New Columbus is located in Luzerne County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 227 people
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Waterton
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Prichard
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Prichard. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prichard
      • Prichard is located in Luzerne County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Prichard
      • From Pleasant Valley to Prichard
    • Sweet Valley
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sweet Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweet Valley
      • Sweet Valley is located in Luzerne County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sweet Valley <2>

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

Newspapers Published in Pleasant Valley ...

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 41 newspapers that have been published in the area around Pleasant Valley.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Pleasant Valley, there are papers which were published within 15 miles [24.1 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Pleasant Valley.

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 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 Pleasant Valley:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Pleasant Valley. 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>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>If we found a location and have questions about the accuracy of our information, we will simply say that the marker is 'in the vicinity'. We are not confident about the location and the position of our marker is only a rough guide. If we have too many doubts about the location, we will not include it in our database.
<5>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Pleasant Valley) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Pleasant Valley. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.2407, Longitude: -76.2354       In this case, the coordinates for Pleasant Valley have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>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.
<7>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 Pleasant Valley, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

Copyright 2025
All Rights Reserved

Thank you for visiting our website.

In closing, please keep in mind that we can not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information on this website, so use with care. We encourage you to double-check the information that is critical to you.

If you've found an error or have additional information that you would like to share, please don't hesitate to write: Click here to contact us.

This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025