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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 Tafton (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 Tafton. 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.

Tafton is located in Pike 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 Pike County: Sussex (NJ), Orange (NY), Sullivan (NY), Monroe & Wayne.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Tafton ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Tafton.

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

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

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

  • Paupack Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Paupack Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Paupack Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Pine Grove Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pine Grove Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pine Grove Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mt. Moriah Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Moriah Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Moriah Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Zion Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Darling Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Darling Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Darling Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Tisdale Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Tisdale Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Tisdale Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Johns Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Johns Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Johns Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Salem Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Salem Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Salem Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jericho Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jericho Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Jericho Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Pine Grove Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pine Grove Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pine Grove Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Dyberry Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Dyberry Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Dyberry Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Vine Hill Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Vine Hill Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Vine Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (170 more) ...
    • St. Marys Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Marys Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Marys Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Schoonover Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Schoonover Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Schoonover Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • German Hill Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the German Hill Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the German Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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 Tafton had a population of 141 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Paupack
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Blooming Grove
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Hawley
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hawley have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hawley
    • Hawley is located in Wayne County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,138 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hawley <1>
  • Uswick
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Kimble
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • West Hawley
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Hawley have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Hawley
    • West Hawley is located in Wayne County
  • Lords Valley
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Glen Eyre
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Glen Eyre have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Eyre
    • Glen Eyre is located in Pike County
  • Ledgedale
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • 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.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ledgedale
    • Ledgedale is located in Pike County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Ledgedale
    • From Tafton to Ledgedale
  • Arlington
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Arlington have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arlington
    • Arlington is located in Wayne County
  • Greentown
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Greentown have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greentown
    • Greentown is located in Pike County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Greentown <1>
  • Rowland
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Hoadleys
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hoadleys have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hoadleys
      • Hoadleys is located in Wayne County
    • Avoy
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Avoy have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Avoy
      • Avoy is located in Wayne County
    • White Mills
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for White Mills have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White Mills
      • White Mills is located in Wayne County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for White Mills <1>

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

Newspapers Published in Tafton ...

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 40 newspapers that have been published in the area around Tafton.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Tafton, there are papers which were published within 18 miles [29 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Tafton.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These helpful websites offer the information directly or else point to where you can find it. Their information is open to everyone.

To help you get started, the following links will take you to the pages that are relevant to Tafton:

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>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>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 Tafton, 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- Tafton) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Tafton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.4048, Longitude: -75.1832