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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 Ethel (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 Ethel. 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 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.

Ethel is located in Arkansas 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 Arkansas County: Desha, Jefferson, Lincoln, Lonoke, Monroe, Phillips & Prairie.

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

  • Arkansas County     (The home county of Ethel)
  • Desha County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ethel, with the one closest to Ethel listed first.
    • Snow Lake
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Snow Lake is located in Desha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Snow Lake
    • Pea Ridge
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Watson
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
  • Jefferson County
  • Lee County
  • Lincoln County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ethel, with the one closest to Ethel listed first.
    • South Bend ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • South Bend is located in Lincoln County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Bend
    • Gould
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Sarassa
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Sarassa is located in Lincoln County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sarassa
  • Monroe County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ethel, with the one closest to Ethel listed first.
    • Lawrenceville
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Palmer
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Pine City
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Holly Grove
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Holly Grove is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holly Grove
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 520 people
    • Roe
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Roe is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roe
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 94 people
    • Clarendon
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
  • Phillips County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ethel, with the one closest to Ethel listed first.
    • Lambrook
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Lambrook is located in Phillips County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lambrook
    • Mellwood
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
      • Mellwood is located in Phillips County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mellwood
    • Crumrod
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Crumrod is located in Phillips County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crumrod
    • Turner
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Elaine
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Wabash
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Lakeview
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Lakeview is located in Phillips County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 349 people
    • Marvell
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Old Town
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Old Town is located in Phillips County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Town
    • Oneida
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Oneida is located in Phillips County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oneida
    • Poplar Grove
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Poplar Grove is located in Phillips County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar Grove
    • Barton
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Prairie County
    • Ulm
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Ulm is located in Prairie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ulm
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 153 people
  • Bolivar County (MS)
  • Coahoma County (MS)

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

Cemeteries Near Ethel ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Ethel.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Ethel, with the one closest to Ethel 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, Ethel had a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Saint Charles
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Deluce
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Deluce is located in Arkansas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deluce
  • Indian Bay
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Indian Bay is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Bay
  • De Witt
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Tichnor
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Crockett's Bluff
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
  • Sassafras ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Sassafras is located in Arkansas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sassafras
  • Mount Adams
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Mount Adams is located in Arkansas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Adams
  • Olena
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Olena is located in Arkansas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Olena
  • Turner
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Almyra
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Casscoe
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Casscoe is located in Arkansas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Casscoe
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Cypert
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • Cypert is located in Phillips County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cypert
    • Bayou Meto
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Arkansas Post ‑ Historic
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Arkansas Post is located in Arkansas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arkansas Post

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

Newspapers Published in Ethel ...

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 13 newspapers that have been published in the area around Ethel.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Ethel, there are papers which were published within 17 miles [27.4 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Ethel.

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 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 Ethel:

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>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Ethel) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<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 Ethel, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.