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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 Little Rock (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 Little Rock. 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.

Little Rock is located in Pulaski 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 Pulaski County: Faulkner, Grant, Jefferson, Lonoke, Perry & Saline.

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

  • Pulaski County     (The home county of Little Rock)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Little Rock, with the one closest to Little Rock listed first.
    • North Little Rock
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Argenta ‑ Historic
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Argenta is located in Pulaski County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Argenta
    • Rose City
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Rose City is located in Pulaski County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rose City
    • Sweet Home
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Sweet Home is located in Pulaski County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweet Home
    • College Station
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Willowdale ‑ Historic
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Willowdale is located in Pulaski County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willowdale
    • Booker
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Cammack Village
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Cammack Village is located in Pulaski County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cammack Village
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 712 people
    • Wakefield Village
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
      • Wakefield Village is located in Pulaski County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wakefield Village
    • McAlmont
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • McAlmont is located in Pulaski County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McAlmont
    • Windamere
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Sherwood
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Faulkner County
  • Grant County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Little Rock, with the one closest to Little Rock listed first.
    • Ico ‑ Historic
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Ico is located in Grant County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ico
    • Tull
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Tull is located in Grant County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tull
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 464 people
    • Center Grove
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Ebb
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Sheridan
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Jefferson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Little Rock, with the one closest to Little Rock listed first.
    • Redfield
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Plum Bayou ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Wright
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Wright is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wright
    • Jefferson
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Jefferson is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jefferson
    • Tucker
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Tucker is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tucker
    • Pastoria
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Sherrill
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Sherrill is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sherrill
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 71 people
  • Lonoke County
  • Perry County
  • Saline County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Little Rock, with the one closest to Little Rock listed first.
    • Shannon Hills
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Shannon Hills is located in Saline County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shannon Hills
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,087 people
    • East End
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
      • East End is located in Saline County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East End
    • Bryant
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Bauxite
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
      • Bauxite is located in Saline County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bauxite
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 555 people
    • Salem
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
      • Salem is located in Saline County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salem
    • Avilla
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Congo
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Benton
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Shaw
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Kentucky
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Haskell
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Fairplay ‑ Historic
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
  • White County

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

Cemeteries Near Little Rock ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Little Rock.

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 Little Rock - one of the links might be able to help.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Little Rock, with the one closest to Little Rock 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 Little Rock had a population of 25,874 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Little Rock had a population of 197,866 people.

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

  • Fourche ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Fourche is located in Pulaski County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fourche
  • Niemeyer ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Niemeyer is located in Pulaski County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Niemeyer
  • Sweet Home
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Sweet Home is located in Pulaski County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweet Home
  • Argenta ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Argenta is located in Pulaski County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Argenta
  • Willowdale ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Willowdale is located in Pulaski County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willowdale
  • McAlmont
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • McAlmont is located in Pulaski County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McAlmont
  • Wrightsville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Galloway
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Galloway is located in Pulaski County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galloway
  • Mabelvale
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Scott
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Marche
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Ivesville
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Ivesville is located in Pulaski County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivesville
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Altharp ‑ Historic
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Altharp is located in Saline County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Altharp
    • Kerr
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Kerr is located in Lonoke County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kerr
    • Jacksonville
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Little Rock ...

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 250 newspapers that have been published in the area around Little Rock.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Little Rock. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Little Rock and those printed in the larger area surrounding Little Rock.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 11 miles [17.7 km]<4> of Little Rock.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to start 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 Little Rock:

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