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 Sylmar (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 Sylmar. 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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and 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.
Sylmar is located in Chester 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 Chester County : New Castle (DE) , Cecil (MD) , Berks , Delaware , Lancaster & Montgomery .
Below are the counties that are near Sylmar. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Sylmar:
Chester County (The home county of Sylmar)
The following are listed by their distance from Sylmar, with the one closest to Sylmar listed first.
Chrome (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
Chrome is located in Chester County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chrome Glen Roy (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
Glen Roy is located in Chester County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Roy Hopewell (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
Hopewell is located in Chester County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hopewell Barnsley (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
Barnsley is located in Chester County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barnsley Tweedale (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
Tweedale is located in Chester County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tweedale Mount Vernon (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
Mount Vernon is located in Chester County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Vernon Oxford (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
Elkview (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
Elkview is located in Chester County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elkview Kemblesville (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
Kemblesville is located in Chester County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kemblesville Jennersville (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
Jennersville is located in Chester County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jennersville Strickersville (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
Strickersville is located in Chester County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Strickersville Daleville (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
Daleville is located in Chester County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Daleville Berks County
Morgantown (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
Delaware County
The following are listed by their distance from Sylmar, with the one closest to Sylmar listed first.
Zebleys Corner (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
Zebleys Corner is located in Delaware County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zebleys Corner Creekside Village at Naamans (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
Lancaster County
The following are listed by their distance from Sylmar, with the one closest to Sylmar listed first.
Kirks Mills (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
Kirks Mills is located in Lancaster County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kirks Mills Summerhill (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
Summerhill is located in Lancaster County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summerhill Oak Hill (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
Oak Hill is located in Lancaster County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Hill Little Britain (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
Little Britain is located in Lancaster County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Britain McSparran (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
McSparran is located in Lancaster County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McSparran Furniss (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
Furniss is located in Lancaster County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Furniss Mechanic Grove (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
Mechanic Grove is located in Lancaster County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mechanic Grove Benton (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
Benton is located in Lancaster County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Benton Ninepoints (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
Ninepoints is located in Lancaster County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ninepoints Buck (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
Buck is located in Lancaster County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buck Quarryville (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
Smyrna (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
Smyrna is located in Lancaster County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smyrna York County
The following are listed by their distance from Sylmar, with the one closest to Sylmar listed first.
Slate Hill (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
Slate Hill is located in York County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Slate Hill Delta (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
Castle Fin (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
Castle Fin is located in York County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Castle Fin Bryansville (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
Bryansville is located in York County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bryansville Slab (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
Slab is located in York County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Slab Susquehanna Trails (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
Susquehanna Trails is located in York County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Susquehanna Trails Kyleville (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
Kyleville is located in York County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kyleville Airville (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
Goram (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
Goram is located in York County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goram Bruce (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
Bruce is located in York County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bruce Fawn Grove (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
New Freedom (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
New Castle County (DE)
The following are listed by their distance from Sylmar, with the one closest to Sylmar listed first.
Newark (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
Newark is located in New Castle County (DE) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newark Population from the 2020 Census: 33,849 people
Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Newark <1>
York Towne (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
York Towne is located in New Castle County (DE) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for York Towne Brookside (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
Brookside is located in New Castle County (DE) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brookside North Star (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
North Star is located in New Castle County (DE) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Star Southwood (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
Southwood is located in New Castle County (DE) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Southwood The Village of Drummond Hill (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
Wilson (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
Wilson is located in New Castle County (DE) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilson Windy Hills (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
Windy Hills is located in New Castle County (DE) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Windy Hills Pencader Village (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
Pencader Village is located in New Castle County (DE) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pencader Village English Village (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
English Village is located in New Castle County (DE) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for English Village Ogletown (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
Ogletown is located in New Castle County (DE) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ogletown Glasgow (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
Glasgow is located in New Castle County (DE) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glasgow Baltimore County (MD)
The following are listed by their distance from Sylmar, with the one closest to Sylmar listed first.
Franklinville (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
Franklinville is located in Baltimore County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Franklinville Bradshaw (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
Jerusalem Mills (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
Jerusalem Mills is located in Baltimore County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jerusalem Mills Baldwin (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
Fork (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
Kingsville (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
Upper Falls (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
Upper Falls is located in Baltimore County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Upper Falls Hydes (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
Gorsuch Mills (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
Gorsuch Mills is located in Baltimore County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gorsuch Mills Bird River Beach (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
Bird River Beach is located in Baltimore County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bird River Beach Chase (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
Chase is located in Baltimore County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chase Harewood Park (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
Harewood Park is located in Baltimore County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harewood Park Cecil County (MD)
The following are listed by their distance from Sylmar, with the one closest to Sylmar listed first.
Sylmar (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
Sylmar is located in Cecil County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sylmar Calvert (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
Calvert is located in Cecil County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Calvert Rising Sun (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
Mason Dixon Village (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
Mason Dixon Village is located in Cecil County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mason Dixon Village Zion (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
Zion is located in Cecil County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zion Blake (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
Blake is located in Cecil County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blake Blue Ball Village (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
Blue Ball Village is located in Cecil County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blue Ball Village Theodore (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
Theodore is located in Cecil County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Theodore Winchester Village (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
Winchester Village is located in Cecil County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winchester Village Colora (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
Liberty Grove (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
Liberty Grove is located in Cecil County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty Grove Rock Springs (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
Rock Springs is located in Cecil County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Springs Harford County (MD)
The following are listed by their distance from Sylmar, with the one closest to Sylmar listed first.
Conowingo Village (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
Conowingo Village is located in Harford County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Conowingo Village Darlington (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
Lapidum (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
Lapidum is located in Harford County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lapidum Stafford ‑ Historic(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
Stafford is located in Harford County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stafford Havre de Grace (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
Garland (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
Garland is located in Harford County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garland Glenville (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
Glenville is located in Harford County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenville Webster Village (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
Webster Village is located in Harford County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Webster Village Hopewell Village (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
Hopewell Village is located in Harford County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hopewell Village Level (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
Level is located in Harford County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Level Poole (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
Poole is located in Harford County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poole Dublin (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
Dublin is located in Harford County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dublin Kent County (MD)
The following are listed by their distance from Sylmar, with the one closest to Sylmar listed first.
Betterton (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
Coleman (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
Coleman is located in Kent County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coleman Georgetown (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
Gregg Neck (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
Gregg Neck is located in Kent County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gregg Neck Sassafras (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
Sassafras is located in Kent County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sassafras Dogwood Village (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
Dogwood Village is located in Kent County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dogwood Village Galena (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
Locust Grove (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
Locust Grove is located in Kent County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locust Grove Still Pond (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
Still Pond is located in Kent County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Still Pond Kennedyville (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
Lambson (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
Lambson is located in Kent County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lambson Lynch (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
Lynch is located in Kent County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lynch Montgomery County (MD)
High Point Estates (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
High Point Estates is located in Montgomery County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High Point Estates Salem County (NJ)
The following are listed by their distance from Sylmar, with the one closest to Sylmar listed first.
Pennsville (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
Pennsville is located in Salem County (NJ) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pennsville Carneys Point (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
Carneys Point is located in Salem County (NJ) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carneys Point
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Sylmar, see our County-by-County Page for Sylmar .
Cemeteries Near Sylmar ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Sylmar.
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 Sylmar - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Sylmar covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Sylmar, with the one closest to Sylmar listed first.
Rising Sun Cemetery (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
Rosebank Cemetery (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
Nottingham Cemetery (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
New Bridge Cemetery (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
Krauss Cemetery (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
Trinity Cemetery (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
Mt. Olivet Cemetery (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
West Nottingham Meetinghouse Cemetery (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
Ebenezer Cemetery (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
Zion Cemetery (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
Calvary Cemetery (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
Mt. Pleasant Cemetery (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
Continue List (280 more) ...
Woodlawn Cemetery (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
Moores Chapel Cemetery (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
Little Elk Cemetery (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
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.<2>
While we didn't find Sylmar in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Sylmar.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Sylmar, with the one closest to Sylmar listed first.
Sylmar (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
Sylmar is located in Cecil County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sylmar Nottingham (Less than 2 miles to the north)
Nottingham is located in Chester County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nottingham Rising Sun (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
Calvert (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
Calvert is located in Cecil County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Calvert Chrome (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
Chrome is located in Chester County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chrome Freemont (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
Freemont is located in Chester County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freemont Farmington (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
Farmington is located in Cecil County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farmington Glen Roy (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
Glen Roy is located in Chester County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Roy Barnsley (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
Barnsley is located in Chester County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barnsley Hopewell (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
Hopewell is located in Chester County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hopewell Tweedale (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
Tweedale is located in Chester County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tweedale Zion (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
Zion is located in Cecil County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zion Continue List (16 more) ...
Lombard (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
Lombard is located in Cecil County (MD) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lombard Kirks Mills (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
Kirks Mills is located in Lancaster County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kirks Mills Colora (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Sylmar. See our List of 1890's Communities around Sylmar .
Newspapers Published in Sylmar ...
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 36 newspapers that have been published in the area around Sylmar.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Sylmar, there are papers which were published within 8 miles [12.9 km]<3> Extended Newspaper List for Sylmar.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we start with 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 Sylmar:
Websites specific to Pennsylvania Pages specific to Chester County Genealogy information for nearby counties
Berks County Delaware County Lancaster County York County New Castle County Baltimore County Cecil County Harford County Kent County Montgomery County Salem County Cemetery Information and Directories for Pennsylvania Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Sylmar. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page .
The official website for Chester County: https://www.chesco.org/
The official website for Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: https://www.pa.gov/
Footnotes ...
<1> While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. 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 Sylmar, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. 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 from Point A (ie- Sylmar) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.