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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 Kensett (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 Kensett. 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.

Kensett 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 Kensett. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Kensett:

  • White County     (The home county of Kensett)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Kensett, with the one closest to Kensett listed first.
    • Judsonia
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • West Point
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Higginson
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Higginson is located in White County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Higginson
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 743 people
    • Searcy
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Bald Knob
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Griffithville
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
      • Griffithville is located in White County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Griffithville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 224 people
    • Walker
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Garner
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • McRae
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • McRae is located in White County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McRae
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 671 people
    • Bliss ‑ Historic
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
      • Bliss is located in White County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bliss
    • Letona
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Letona is located in White County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Letona
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 244 people
    • Center Hill
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Cleburne County
  • Faulkner County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Kensett, with the one closest to Kensett listed first.
    • Mount Vernon
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Enola
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Independence County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Kensett, with the one closest to Kensett listed first.
    • Pleasant Plains
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Pleasant Plains is located in Independence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Plains
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 356 people
    • Floral
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Thida
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Oil Trough
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Rosie
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
  • Jackson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Kensett, with the one closest to Kensett listed first.
    • Grand Glaise
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Grand Glaise is located in Jackson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Glaise
    • Tupelo
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Weldon
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Shoffner
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Lonoke County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Kensett, with the one closest to Kensett listed first.
    • Ward
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • 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
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Oak Grove
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Cabot
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Parnell
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Carlisle
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Prairie County
  • Woodruff County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Kensett, with the one closest to Kensett listed first.
    • Augusta
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Gregory
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Flynn ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Flynn is located in Woodruff County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flynn
    • Colona
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Patterson
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Patterson is located in Woodruff County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Patterson
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 388 people
    • Riverside
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Howell
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Howell is located in Woodruff County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Howell
    • McCrory
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • DeView
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Cotton Plant
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Kensett ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Kensett.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Kensett, with the one closest to Kensett 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 Kensett had a population of 105 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Kensett had a population of 1,615 people.

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

  • Higginson
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Higginson is located in White County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Higginson
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 743 people
  • West Point
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Judsonia
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Searcy
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Walker
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Bald Knob
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Clear Water ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Clear Water is located in White County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clear Water
  • Garner
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Egbert ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Egbert is located in White County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Egbert
  • McRae
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • McRae is located in White County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McRae
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 671 people
  • Russell
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Bliss ‑ Historic
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Bliss is located in White County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bliss
  • Continue List   (17 more) ...
    • Clay
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Antioch
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Antioch is located in White County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Antioch
    • Little Red
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Little Red is located in White County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Red

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Kensett ...

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 60 newspapers that have been published in the area around Kensett.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Kensett. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Kensett and those printed in the larger area surrounding Kensett.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 19 miles [30.6 km]<4> of Kensett.

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 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 Kensett:

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 Kensett, 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Kensett) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.