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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 Whitaker (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 Whitaker. 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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals 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.

Whitaker is located in Allegheny 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 Allegheny County: Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Washington & Westmoreland.

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

  • Allegheny County     (The home county of Whitaker)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Whitaker, with the one closest to Whitaker listed first.
    • Braddock
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Rankin
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Rankin is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rankin
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,012 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rankin <1>
    • Munhall
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Swissvale
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Duquesne
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Kennywood Park
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Homestead
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • West Homestead
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • West Homestead is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Homestead
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,854 people
    • Chalfant
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Chalfant is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chalfant
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 765 people
    • East Pittsburgh
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Edgewood
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
      • Edgewood is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edgewood
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,983 people
    • Braddock Hills
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Braddock Hills is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Braddock Hills
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,772 people
    • Forest Hills
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Forest Hills is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Hills
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,256 people
  • Armstrong County
  • Beaver County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Whitaker, with the one closest to Whitaker listed first.
    • South Heights
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • South Heights is located in Beaver County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Heights
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 437 people
    • Ambridge
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Economy
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Economy is located in Beaver County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Economy
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,022 people
    • Gringo
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Aliquippa
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Baden
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Crestmont Village
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Crestmont Village is located in Beaver County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crestmont Village
    • New Sheffield
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Wallace City
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Wallace City is located in Beaver County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wallace City
    • Knob
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Conway
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Freedom
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • East Rochester
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • East Rochester is located in Beaver County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Rochester
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 526 people
  • Butler County
  • Fayette County
  • Greene County
  • Indiana County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Whitaker, with the one closest to Whitaker listed first.
    • White
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Bow
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Bow is located in Indiana County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bow
    • Clarksburg
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Saltsburg
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Washington County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Whitaker, with the one closest to Whitaker listed first.
    • Ellsworth
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Ellsworth is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ellsworth
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 960 people
    • Finleyville
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Gastonville
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Gastonville is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gastonville
    • Monongahela
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • New Eagle
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • McMurray
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Thompsonville
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Baidland
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Baidland is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baidland
    • Black Diamond
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Riverview
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Riverview is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverview
    • Donora
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Sudan
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Gilkeson
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Gilkeson is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gilkeson
  • Westmoreland County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Whitaker, with the one closest to Whitaker listed first.
    • Trafford
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Larimer
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Murrysville
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Irwin
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Irwin is located in Westmoreland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Irwin
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,716 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Irwin <1>
    • North Irwin
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • North Irwin is located in Westmoreland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Irwin
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 780 people
    • Shaner
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Rillton
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Shafton
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Shafton is located in Westmoreland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shafton
    • Westmoreland City
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Westmoreland City is located in Westmoreland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westmoreland City
    • Franklin
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Harrison City
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Blackburn ‑ Historic
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Blackburn is located in Westmoreland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blackburn
    • Herminie
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Whitaker ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Whitaker.

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

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

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

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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Whitaker had railroad service and no post office. In 2020, Whitaker had a population of 1,225 people.

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

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

Newspapers Published in Whitaker ...

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 443 newspapers that have been published in the area around Whitaker.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Whitaker, there are papers which were published within 7 miles [11.3 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Whitaker.

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 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 Whitaker:

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 Whitaker, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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- Whitaker) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.