RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> Commonwealth of Pennsylvania >> Centre County >> Potters Mills >> 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 Potters Mills (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 Potters Mills. 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 Potters Mills ...

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.

  • A typical abbreviation for Potters Mills: Potters Mls. (or less commonly used: Potters Mlls.)
  • While the name of this community is Potters Mills, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Potters Mills may originally have been Potter's Mills.

    Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Potters Mills might be written as Potter Mills.

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 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.

Potters Mills is located in Centre 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 Centre County: Blair, Cambria, Clearfield, Clinton, Huntingdon, Mifflin & Union.

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

  • Centre County     (The home county of Potters Mills)
  • Clinton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Potters Mills, with the one closest to Potters Mills listed first.
    • Lamar
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Abdera
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Tylersville
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Greenburr
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Cedar Springs
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Salona
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Mill Hall
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mill Hall have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mill Hall
      • Mill Hall is located in Clinton County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,586 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mill Hall <4>
    • Rote
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Rote. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rote
      • Rote is located in Clinton County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Rote
      • From Potters Mills to Rote
    • Beech Creek
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Beech Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beech Creek
      • Beech Creek is located in Clinton County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 685 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Beech Creek <4>
    • Loganton
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Loganton have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loganton
      • Loganton is located in Clinton County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 475 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Loganton <4>
    • Flemington
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Flemington have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flemington
      • Flemington is located in Clinton County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,312 people
    • Castanea
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
  • Huntingdon County
  • Juniata County
  • Mifflin County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Potters Mills, with the one closest to Potters Mills listed first.
    • Milroy
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Milroy have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milroy
      • Milroy is located in Mifflin County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Milroy <4>
    • Honey Creek
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Lumber City
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lumber City have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lumber City
      • Lumber City is located in Mifflin County
    • Reedsville
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Yeagertown
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Burnham
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Burnham have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burnham
      • Burnham is located in Mifflin County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,984 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Burnham <4>
    • Kishacoquillas
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Highland Park
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Alfarata
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Alfarata. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alfarata
      • Alfarata is located in Mifflin County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Alfarata
      • From Potters Mills to Alfarata
    • Lewistown
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Paintersville
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Belleville
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Belleville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belleville
      • Belleville is located in Mifflin County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Belleville <4>
  • Perry County
  • Snyder County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Potters Mills, with the one closest to Potters Mills listed first.
    • Bannerville
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • McClure
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for McClure have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McClure
      • McClure is located in Snyder County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 919 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for McClure <4>
    • Middle Creek
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Beaver Springs
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Benfer
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Benfer. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Benfer
      • Benfer is located in Snyder County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Benfer
      • From Potters Mills to Benfer
    • Troxelville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Troxelville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Troxelville
      • Troxelville is located in Snyder County
    • Beavertown
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Beavertown have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beavertown
      • Beavertown is located in Snyder County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 958 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Beavertown <4>
    • Paxtonville
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Coon Hunter
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Middleburg
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Middleburg have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Middleburg
      • Middleburg is located in Snyder County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,262 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Middleburg <4>
    • Penns Creek
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Penns Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Penns Creek
      • Penns Creek is located in Snyder County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Penns Creek <4>
  • Union County

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

Cemeteries Near Potters Mills ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Potters Mills.

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

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

  • Centre Hill Presbyterian Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
  • Mountain Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mountain Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mountain Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Woodlawn Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Woodlawn Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Woodlawn Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Old Salem Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old Salem Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old Salem Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Union Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Union Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Union Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Heckman Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Heckman Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Heckman Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Paradise Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Paradise Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Paradise Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Long Lane Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Long Lane Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Long Lane Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Fairview Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fairview Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fairview Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Union Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Union Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Union Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Centre County Memorial Park
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Shiloh Lutheran Church Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (170 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.<7>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Potters Mills had a population of 339 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Centre Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
  • Tusseyville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tusseyville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tusseyville
    • Tusseyville is located in Centre County
  • Spring Mills
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Spring Mills have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Mills
    • Spring Mills is located in Centre County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Spring Mills <4>
  • Farmers Mills
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Farmers Mills have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farmers Mills
    • Farmers Mills is located in Centre County
  • Centre Hall
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Milroy
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Milroy have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milroy
    • Milroy is located in Mifflin County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Milroy <4>
  • Penn Hall
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Siglerville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Siglerville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Siglerville
    • Siglerville is located in Mifflin County
  • Zerby
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Zerby. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zerby
    • Zerby is located in Centre County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Zerby
    • From Potters Mills to Zerby
  • Naginey
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Naginey have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Naginey
    • Naginey is located in Mifflin County
  • Linden Hall
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Honey Creek
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (20 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in Potters Mills ...

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 39 newspapers that have been published in the area around Potters Mills.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Potters Mills, there are papers which were published within 17 miles [27.4 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Potters Mills.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin 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 Potters Mills:

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

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

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>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.
<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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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- Potters Mills) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Potters Mills. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.7957, Longitude: -77.6253    
<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 Potters Mills, 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