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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 Fort Smith (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 Fort Smith. 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.

Name Variations for Fort Smith ...

When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might occur.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Fort Smith: Ft. Smith

You might be interested in other communities that are also named Fort Smith. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Fort Smith.

If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.

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 northeast 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 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 east 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.

Fort Smith is located in Sebastian County and is the County Seat.

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 Sebastian County: Crawford, Franklin, Logan, Scott, Le Flore (OK) & Sequoyah (OK).

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

  • Sebastian County     (The home county of Fort Smith)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fort Smith, with the one closest to Fort Smith listed first.
    • Buell
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Barling
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Central City
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
      • Central City is located in Sebastian County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Central City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 497 people
    • Jenny Lind
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Bonanza
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Bonanza is located in Sebastian County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bonanza
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 560 people
    • Lavaca
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Hackett
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Greenwood
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Bloomer
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Ursula
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Midland
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Huntington
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Huntington is located in Sebastian County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huntington
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 615 people
    • Frog Town
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Frog Town is located in Sebastian County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frog Town
  • Crawford County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fort Smith, with the one closest to Fort Smith listed first.
    • Wright Town
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Wright Town is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wright Town
    • Van Buren
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Kibler
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Kibler is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kibler
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,028 people
    • Concord
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Concord is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Concord
    • New Town
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
      • New Town is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Town
    • Alma
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Alma is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alma
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,887 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Alma <1>
    • Rudy
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Rudy is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rudy
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 149 people
    • Cedarville
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Uniontown
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Uniontown is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Uniontown
    • Dyer
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Barcelona
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Natural Dam
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Mulberry
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
  • Franklin County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fort Smith, with the one closest to Fort Smith listed first.
    • Charleston
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Dahoma ‑ Historic
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Dahoma is located in Franklin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dahoma
    • Leon ‑ Historic
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Leon is located in Franklin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leon
    • Branch
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Donald ‑ Historic
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Cecil
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Cecil is located in Franklin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cecil
    • Cravens
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Etna
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
  • Logan County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fort Smith, with the one closest to Fort Smith listed first.
    • Lucas
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Ratcliff
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Caulksville
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Caulksville is located in Logan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Caulksville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 208 people
    • Carolan
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Booneville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Washington County
  • Adair County (OK)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fort Smith, with the one closest to Fort Smith listed first.
    • Bell
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Greasy
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Greasy is located in Adair County (OK)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greasy
    • Salem
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Salem is located in Adair County (OK)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salem
    • Cherry Tree
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Le Flore County (OK)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fort Smith, with the one closest to Fort Smith listed first.
    • Arkoma
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Braden
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Pocola
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Pocola is located in Le Flore County (OK)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pocola
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,153 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Pocola <1>
    • Fort Coffee
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Fort Coffee is located in Le Flore County (OK)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Coffee
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 421 people
    • Rock Island
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Rock Island is located in Le Flore County (OK)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Island
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 648 people
    • Skullyville
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Spiro
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Cameron
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
      • Cameron is located in Le Flore County (OK)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cameron
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 299 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cameron <1>
    • Panama
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Panama is located in Le Flore County (OK)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Panama
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,358 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Panama <1>
    • Shady Point
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Cowlington
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Cowlington is located in Le Flore County (OK)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cowlington
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 152 people
    • Poteau
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Bokoshe
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Bokoshe is located in Le Flore County (OK)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bokoshe
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 496 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bokoshe <1>
  • Sequoyah County (OK)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fort Smith, with the one closest to Fort Smith listed first.
    • Moffett
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Moffett is located in Sequoyah County (OK)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moffett
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 122 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Moffett <1>
    • Roland
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Roland is located in Sequoyah County (OK)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roland
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,020 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Roland <1>
    • Remy
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Remy is located in Sequoyah County (OK)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Remy
    • Muldrow
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
      • Muldrow is located in Sequoyah County (OK)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muldrow
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,279 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Muldrow <1>
    • Long
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Long is located in Sequoyah County (OK)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long
    • Short
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Short is located in Sequoyah County (OK)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Short
    • Belfonte
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Belfonte is located in Sequoyah County (OK)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belfonte
    • Gans
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
      • Gans is located in Sequoyah County (OK)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gans
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 296 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Gans <1>
    • Akins
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Akins is located in Sequoyah County (OK)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Akins
    • Seven Oaks
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Stoney Point
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Stoney Point is located in Sequoyah County (OK)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stoney Point
    • Brushy
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Brushy is located in Sequoyah County (OK)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brushy
    • Brent
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Brent is located in Sequoyah County (OK)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brent

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

Cemeteries Near Fort Smith ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Fort Smith.

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 Fort Smith - one of the links might be able to help.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Fort Smith, with the one closest to Fort Smith 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 Fort Smith had a population of 11,311 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Fort Smith had a population of 87,764 people.

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

  • Massard
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Massard is located in Sebastian County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Massard
  • Cavanaugh
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Cavanaugh is located in Sebastian County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cavanaugh
  • Buell
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Barling
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Crescent
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Crescent is located in Sebastian County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crescent
  • Haroldton
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Haroldton is located in Crawford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haroldton
  • Catcher
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Catcher is located in Crawford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Catcher
  • Van Buren
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Enterprise
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Enterprise is located in Sebastian County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Enterprise
  • Dora
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Dora is located in Crawford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dora
  • Jenny Lind
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Excelsior
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Excelsior is located in Sebastian County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Excelsior
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Lavaca
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Alma
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Alma is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alma
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,887 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Alma <1>
    • Jenson
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
      • Jenson is located in Sebastian County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jenson

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Fort Smith ...

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 143 newspapers that have been published in the area around Fort Smith.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Fort Smith. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Fort Smith and those printed in the larger area surrounding Fort Smith.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 23 miles [37 km]<4> of Fort Smith.

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 Fort Smith:

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 Fort Smith, 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' (or 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- Fort Smith) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.