RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Arkansas >> Independence County >> Floral >> 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 Floral (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 Floral. 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 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 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.

Floral is located in Independence 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 Independence County: Cleburne, Izard, Jackson, Lawrence, Sharp, Stone & White.

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

  • Independence County     (The home county of Floral)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Floral, with the one closest to Floral listed first.
    • Pleasant Plains
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Pleasant Plains is located in Independence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Plains
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 356 people
    • Locust Grove
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • Locust Grove is located in Independence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locust Grove
    • Southside
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Southside is located in Independence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Southside
    • Desha
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Salado
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Salado is located in Independence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salado
    • Rosie
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Bethesda
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Batesville
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Thida
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Denieville ‑ Historic
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Denieville is located in Independence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Denieville
    • Oil Trough
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Moorefield
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Moorefield is located in Independence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moorefield
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 135 people
    • Magness
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Magness is located in Independence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magness
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 208 people
  • Cleburne County
  • Izard County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Floral, with the one closest to Floral listed first.
    • Mount Pleasant
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Guion
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Guion is located in Izard County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Guion
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 81 people
    • Lunenburg
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
  • Jackson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Floral, with the one closest to Floral listed first.
    • 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
    • Jacksonport
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Island Town
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Island Town is located in Jackson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Island Town
    • Newport
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Campbell Station
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Campbell Station is located in Jackson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Campbell Station
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 228 people
    • Diaz
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Diaz is located in Jackson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Diaz
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,208 people
    • Elgin
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Elgin is located in Jackson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elgin
    • Auvergne
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
    • Shoffner
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
  • Sharp County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Floral, with the one closest to Floral listed first.
    • Grange
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Maxville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Sidney
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Sidney is located in Sharp County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sidney
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 185 people
  • Stone County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Floral, with the one closest to Floral listed first.
    • Marcella
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Marcella is located in Stone County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marcella
    • Pleasant Grove
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Pleasant Grove is located in Stone County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Grove
    • Mountain View
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Van Buren County
  • White County
  • Woodruff County

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

Cemeteries Near Floral ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Floral.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Floral, with the one closest to Floral 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>

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

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

  • Tyler ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Tyler is located in Cleburne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tyler
  • Banner
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Banner is located in Cleburne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Banner
  • Davenport ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Davenport is located in White County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Davenport
  • Almond
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Pleasant Plains
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Pleasant Plains is located in Independence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Plains
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 356 people
  • Jamestown
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Jamestown is located in Independence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jamestown
  • Little Red
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Little Red is located in White County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Red
  • Wolf Bayou
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Ida
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Hiram
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Hiram is located in Cleburne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hiram
  • Pangburn
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • Salado
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Salado is located in Independence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salado
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Desha
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Denmark
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Denmark is located in Jackson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Denmark
    • Clay
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)

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

Newspapers Published in Floral ...

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 42 newspapers that have been published in the area around Floral.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Floral, there are papers which were published within 21 miles [33.8 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Floral.

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 Floral:

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 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Floral) 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 Floral, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.