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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Arkansas >> White County >> Clay >> Genealogy HelperIndex...

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 Clay (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 Clay. 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 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.

Clay is located in White 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 White County: Cleburne, Faulkner, Independence, Jackson, Lonoke, Prairie & Woodruff.

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

  • White County     (The home county of Clay)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Clay, with the one closest to Clay listed first.
    • Pangburn
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Letona
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Letona is located in White County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Letona
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 244 people
    • Sunnydale
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Davenport ‑ Historic
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Davenport is located in White County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Davenport
    • Bliss ‑ Historic
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
      • Bliss is located in White County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bliss
    • Searcy
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Center Hill
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Judsonia
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Bald Knob
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Kensett
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Higginson
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Higginson is located in White County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Higginson
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 743 people
    • Russell
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
  • Cleburne County
  • Faulkner County
  • Independence County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Clay, with the one closest to Clay listed first.
    • Floral
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Pleasant Plains
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Pleasant Plains is located in Independence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Plains
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 356 people
    • Thida
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Locust Grove
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Locust Grove is located in Independence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locust Grove
    • Salado
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Salado is located in Independence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salado
    • Southside
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Southside is located in Independence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Southside
    • Rosie
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Desha
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Oil Trough
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Batesville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Bethesda
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Magness
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Magness is located in Independence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magness
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 208 people
  • Jackson County
    • Grand Glaise
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Grand Glaise is located in Jackson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Glaise
  • Lonoke County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Clay, with the one closest to Clay listed first.
    • Ward
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Ward is located in Lonoke County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ward
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,486 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ward <1>
    • Austin
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
  • Prairie County
    • Hickory Plains
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Hickory Plains is located in Prairie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Plains
  • Stone County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Clay, with the one closest to Clay listed first.
    • Marcella
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Marcella is located in Stone County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marcella
    • Pleasant Grove
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Pleasant Grove is located in Stone County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Grove
  • Van Buren County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Clay, with the one closest to Clay listed first.
    • Chalk ‑ Historic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Chalk is located in Van Buren County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chalk
    • Fairfield Bay
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Woodruff County

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

Cemeteries Near Clay ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Clay.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Clay, with the one closest to Clay 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.<4>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Clay had a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Pangburn
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Little Red
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Little Red is located in White County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Red
  • Hiram
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Hiram is located in Cleburne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hiram
  • Clear Water ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Clear Water is located in White County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clear Water
  • Davenport ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Davenport is located in White County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Davenport
  • Bliss ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Bliss is located in White County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bliss
  • Tyler ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Tyler is located in Cleburne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tyler
  • Searcy
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Judsonia
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Denmark
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Denmark is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Denmark
  • Turnip ‑ Historic
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Turnip is located in White County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turnip
  • Kensett
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Bald Knob
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Pleasant Plains
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Pleasant Plains is located in Independence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Plains
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 356 people
    • Yuba
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)

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

Newspapers Published in Clay ...

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 54 newspapers that have been published in the area around Clay.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Clay, there are papers which were published within 24 miles [38.6 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Clay.

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 Clay:

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