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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 Fairfield Bay (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 Fairfield Bay. 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 doctors and hospitals 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.

Fairfield Bay is primarily located in Van Buren County. A portion of Fairfield Bay extends into Cleburne County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Van Buren County: Cleburne, Conway, Faulkner, Searcy & Stone.

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

  • Van Buren County     (The home county of Fairfield Bay)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fairfield Bay, with the one closest to Fairfield Bay listed first.
    • Shirley
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shirley have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shirley
      • Shirley is located in Van Buren County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 276 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Shirley <2>
    • Eglantine
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Chalk ‑ Historic
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chalk have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chalk
      • Chalk is located in Van Buren County
    • Green Tree
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Morganton
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Morganton. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Morganton
      • Morganton is located in Van Buren County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Morganton
      • From Fairfield Bay to Morganton
    • Choctaw
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Choctaw have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Choctaw
      • Choctaw is located in Van Buren County
    • Clinton
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Bee Branch
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bee Branch have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bee Branch
      • Bee Branch is located in Van Buren County
    • Gravesville
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Dennard
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Formosa
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Crabtree
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Damascus
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Damascus have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Damascus
      • Damascus is located in Van Buren County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 384 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Damascus <2>
  • Baxter County
  • Cleburne County
  • Conway County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fairfield Bay, with the one closest to Fairfield Bay listed first.
    • Austin
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Austin have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Austin
      • Austin is located in Conway County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Austin <2>
    • Center Ridge
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Cleveland
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cleveland have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cleveland
      • Cleveland is located in Conway County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cleveland <2>
    • Middleton
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Springfield
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Springfield have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springfield
      • Springfield is located in Conway County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Springfield <2>
  • Faulkner County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fairfield Bay, with the one closest to Fairfield Bay listed first.
    • Enders
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Guy
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Guy have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Guy
      • Guy is located in Faulkner County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 792 people
    • Twin Groves
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Twin Groves have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Groves
      • Twin Groves is located in Faulkner County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 334 people
    • Centerville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Greenbrier
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Mount Vernon
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Enola
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Holland
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Holland have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holland
      • Holland is located in Faulkner County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 586 people
    • Wooster
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Independence County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fairfield Bay, with the one closest to Fairfield Bay listed first.
    • Floral
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Bethesda
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Bethesda. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bethesda
      • Bethesda is located in Independence County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Bethesda
      • From Fairfield Bay to Bethesda
    • Locust Grove
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Locust Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locust Grove
      • Locust Grove is located in Independence County
  • Izard County
    • Guion
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Guion have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Guion
      • Guion is located in Izard County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 81 people
  • Searcy County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fairfield Bay, with the one closest to Fairfield Bay listed first.
    • Leslie
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Leslie have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leslie
      • Leslie is located in Searcy County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 415 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Leslie <2>
    • Watts
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Watts. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Watts
      • Watts is located in Searcy County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Watts
      • From Fairfield Bay to Watts
    • Baker
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Marshall
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Marshall have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marshall
      • Marshall is located in Searcy County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,327 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Marshall <2>
    • Harriet
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Harriet have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harriet
      • Harriet is located in Searcy County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Harriet <2>
    • Lone Pine
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Stone County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fairfield Bay, with the one closest to Fairfield Bay listed first.
    • Fox
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fox have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox
      • Fox is located in Stone County
    • Timbo
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Alco
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alco have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alco
      • Alco is located in Stone County
    • Mountain View
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Onia
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Onia have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Onia
      • Onia is located in Stone County
    • Fifty-Six
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Marcella
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Marcella have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marcella
      • Marcella is located in Stone County
    • Pleasant Grove
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pleasant Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Grove
      • Pleasant Grove is located in Stone County
  • White County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fairfield Bay, with the one closest to Fairfield Bay listed first.
    • Rose Bud
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Pangburn
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Romance
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Letona
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Letona have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Letona
      • Letona is located in White County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 244 people
    • Clay
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Clay. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clay
      • Clay is located in White County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Clay
      • From Fairfield Bay to Clay

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

Cemeteries Near Fairfield Bay ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Fairfield Bay.

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.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Fairfield Bay, with the one closest to Fairfield Bay 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.<6>

While we didn't find Fairfield Bay in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Fairfield Bay.

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

  • Eglantine
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Settlement ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Settlement have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Settlement
    • Settlement is located in Van Buren County
  • Chalk ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chalk have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chalk
    • Chalk is located in Van Buren County
  • Rushing
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rushing have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rushing
    • Rushing is located in Stone County
  • Shiloh ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Shiloh. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shiloh
    • Shiloh is located in Cleburne County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Shiloh
    • From Fairfield Bay to Shiloh
  • Morganton
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Morganton. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Morganton
    • Morganton is located in Van Buren County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Morganton
    • From Fairfield Bay to Morganton
  • Choctaw
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Choctaw have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Choctaw
    • Choctaw is located in Van Buren County
  • Clinton
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Bee Branch
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bee Branch have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bee Branch
    • Bee Branch is located in Van Buren County
  • Quitman
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
  • Heber Springs
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Dennard
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Damascus
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Damascus have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Damascus
      • Damascus is located in Van Buren County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 384 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Damascus <2>
    • Ida
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ida have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ida
      • Ida is located in Cleburne County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ida <2>
    • Timbo
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)

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

Newspapers Published in Fairfield Bay ...

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 34 newspapers that have been published in the area around Fairfield Bay.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Fairfield Bay, there are papers which were published within 22 miles [35.4 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Fairfield Bay.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin 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 Fairfield Bay:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Fairfield Bay. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for State of Arkansas: https://portal.arkansas.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Fairfield Bay) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Fairfield Bay. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.6107, Longitude: -92.2643    
<5>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.
<6>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 Fairfield Bay, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025