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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 Alexander (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 Alexander. 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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.

Alexander is primarily located in Pulaski County. A portion of Alexander extends into Saline County.

To see how the shape of Arkansas' counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Pulaski County: Faulkner, Grant, Jefferson, Lonoke, Perry & Saline.

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

  • Pulaski County     (The home county of Alexander)
  • Faulkner County
  • Garland County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Alexander, with the one closest to Alexander listed first.
    • Lonsdale
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Fountain Lake
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Fountain Lake is located in Garland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fountain Lake
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 576 people
    • Price
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Grant County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Alexander, with the one closest to Alexander listed first.
    • Ico ‑ Historic
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Ico is located in Grant County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ico
    • Tull
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Tull is located in Grant County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tull
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 464 people
    • Ebb
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Prattsville
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Sheridan
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Center Grove
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Turin ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Turin is located in Grant County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turin
    • Poyen
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Poyen is located in Grant County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poyen
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 291 people
    • Slabtown
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Slabtown is located in Grant County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Slabtown
    • Cherry Grove ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Cherry Grove is located in Grant County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherry Grove
    • Dogwood
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
  • Hot Spring County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Alexander, with the one closest to Alexander listed first.
    • Butterfield
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Rockport
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Rockport is located in Hot Spring County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockport
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 710 people
    • Perla
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Perla is located in Hot Spring County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Perla
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 247 people
    • Magnet Cove
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Magnet Cove is located in Hot Spring County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magnet Cove
      • Estimated population in 2014: 5 people
    • Malvern
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Malvern is located in Hot Spring County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Malvern
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 10,788 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Malvern <1>
  • Jefferson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Alexander, with the one closest to Alexander listed first.
    • Redfield
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Jefferson
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Jefferson is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jefferson
    • Plum Bayou ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Wright
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Wright is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wright
    • Pastoria
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Tucker
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Tucker is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tucker
  • Lonoke County
  • Perry County
  • Saline County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Alexander, with the one closest to Alexander listed first.
    • Shannon Hills
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Shannon Hills is located in Saline County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shannon Hills
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,087 people
    • Bryant
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Bauxite
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Bauxite is located in Saline County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bauxite
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 555 people
    • Salem
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Salem is located in Saline County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salem
    • East End
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
      • East End is located in Saline County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East End
    • Avilla
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Congo
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Benton
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Shaw
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Kentucky
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Haskell
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Fairplay ‑ Historic
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Alexander ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Alexander.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Alexander, with the one closest to Alexander 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 Alexander had a population of 146 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Alexander had a population of 3,621 people.

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

  • Collegeville
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Collegeville is located in Saline County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Collegeville
  • Bryant
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
  • Mabelvale
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Altharp ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Altharp is located in Saline County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Altharp
  • Hurricane ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Hurricane is located in Saline County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hurricane
  • Banty ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Banty is located in Pulaski County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Banty
  • Avilla
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Benton
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Tatumville ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Tatumville is located in Saline County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tatumville
  • Shaw
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Ivesville
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Ivesville is located in Pulaski County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivesville
  • Ico ‑ Historic
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Ico is located in Grant County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ico
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in Alexander ...

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 238 newspapers that have been published in the area around Alexander.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Alexander, there are papers which were published within 13 miles [20.9 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Alexander.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These professional and volunteer 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 Alexander:

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 Alexander, 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Alexander) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.