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 Westminster (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 Westminster. 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 northeast 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 north.
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 north 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.
Westminster is located in Erie 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 Erie County: Chautauqua (NY), Ashtabula (OH), Crawford (OH) & Warren (OH).
Below are the counties that are near Westminster. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Westminster:
- Erie County (The home county of Westminster)
- The following are listed by their distance from Westminster, with the one closest to Westminster listed first.
- Lakewood
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
- Lakewood is located in Erie County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakewood
- West Millcreek
(Less than 2 miles to the west)
- West Millcreek is located in Erie County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Millcreek
- Kearsarge
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
- Kearsarge is located in Erie County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kearsarge
- Erie
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- McKean
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- McKean is located in Erie County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McKean
- Population from the 2020 Census: 366 people
- McKean has also been known as:
- Middleboro
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for McKean <1>
- Borough of Fairview
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Lawrence Park
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- Lawrence Park is located in Erie County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lawrence Park
- Wesleyville
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- Avonia
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- Avonia is located in Erie County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Avonia
- Francis
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
- Francis is located in Erie County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Francis
- Franklin Center
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
- Girard
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
- Girard is located in Erie County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Girard
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,897 people
- Lake City
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
- Lake City is located in Erie County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake City
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,836 people
- Crawford County
- The following are listed by their distance from Westminster, with the one closest to Westminster listed first.
- Crossingville
(18 miles [29 km] to the south)
- Crossingville is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crossingville
- Cambridge Springs
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- Mosiertown
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
- Mosiertown is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mosiertown
- Venango
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
- Woodcock
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
- Woodcock is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodcock
- Population from the 2020 Census: 147 people
- Brown Hill
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
- Brown Hill is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brown Hill
- Springboro
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
- Springboro Station
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
- Springboro Station is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springboro Station
- Canadohta Lake
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
- Canadohta Lake is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canadohta Lake
- Coons Corners
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
- Coons Corners is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coons Corners
- Lincolnville
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
- Lincolnville is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincolnville
- Rootville
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
- Rootville is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rootville
- Conneautville
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
- Warren County
- The following are listed by their distance from Westminster, with the one closest to Westminster listed first.
- Colza
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
- Colza is located in Warren County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colza
- Columbus
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
- Chautauqua County (NY)
- The following are listed by their distance from Westminster, with the one closest to Westminster listed first.
- Findley Lake
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
- French Creek
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
- French Creek is located in Chautauqua County (NY)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for French Creek
- Ripley
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
- Slab City
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
- Slab City is located in Chautauqua County (NY)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Slab City
- Sherman
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
- Forsyth
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
- Forsyth is located in Chautauqua County (NY)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forsyth
- North Clymer
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
- North Clymer is located in Chautauqua County (NY)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Clymer
- Ashtabula County (OH)
- The following are listed by their distance from Westminster, with the one closest to Westminster listed first.
- Conneaut
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
- Kelloggsville
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
- Kelloggsville is located in Ashtabula County (OH)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kelloggsville
- North Kingsville
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
- Kingsville
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Westminster, see our County-by-County Page for Westminster.
Cemeteries Near Westminster ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Westminster.
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 Westminster - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Westminster covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Westminster, with the one closest to Westminster listed first.
- Laurel Hill Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the south)
- Trinity Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the north)
- Calvary Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
- Erie Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erie Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Erie Cemetery is a very large cemetery that is located in Erie.
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #44764 <2>
- Calvary Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
- St. Nicholas Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Ruhl Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- St. Francis Xavier Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Valley Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley Cemetery
- The Valley Cemetery has also been known as:
- Dunn Valley Cemetery
- Tallmadge Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #46556 <2>
- Lakeside Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Fairview Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Golden Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
- Continue List (111 more) ...
- Intergreen Gorge Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Wintergreen Gorge Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Mt. Calvary Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 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.<3>
While we didn't find Westminster in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Westminster.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Westminster, with the one closest to Westminster listed first.
- West Millcreek
(Less than 2 miles to the west)
- West Millcreek is located in Erie County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Millcreek
- Swanville
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
- Swanville is located in Erie County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swanville
- Kearsarge
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
- Kearsarge is located in Erie County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kearsarge
- Dock Junction
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
- Dock Junction is located in Erie County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dock Junction
- Erie
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- McKean
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- McKean is located in Erie County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McKean
- Population from the 2020 Census: 366 people
- McKean has also been known as:
- Middleboro
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for McKean <1>
- Langdon
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Langdon is located in Erie County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Langdon
- Borough of Fairview
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Sterrettania
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Sterrettania is located in Erie County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sterrettania
- Belle Valley
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- Belle Valley is located in Erie County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belle Valley
- Avonia
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- Avonia is located in Erie County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Avonia
- Jackson
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Jackson is located in Erie County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jackson
- Continue List (15 more) ...
- Godard
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Godard is located in Erie County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Godard
- Wesleyville
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- Hammett
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
- Hammett is located in Erie County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hammett
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Westminster. See our List of 1890's Communities around Westminster.
Newspapers Published in Westminster ...
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 190 newspapers that have been published in the area around Westminster.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Westminster, there are papers which were published within 25 miles [40.2 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Westminster.
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 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 Westminster:
- Websites specific to Pennsylvania
- Pages specific to Erie County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Crawford County
- Warren County
- Chautauqua County
- Ashtabula County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Pennsylvania
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> | 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. |
| <3> | 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 Westminster, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Westminster) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |