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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

So far, we found very little information about Smyrna. The little that we've found leads us believe that the community is historic.<1>

We've added Smyrna to our Gazetteer with the hope that we can develop more information. If you can help us with Smyrna, please Contact Us.

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 Smyrna (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 Smyrna. 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 southeast 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 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 east 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.

Although our information shows that the community of Smyrna is historic, it would have been located within present day Tulare County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Tulare County: Fresno, Inyo, Kern & Kings.

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

  • Tulare County     (The home county of Smyrna)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Smyrna, with the one closest to Smyrna listed first.
    • Sultana
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Dinuba
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Cutler
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Orosi
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • London
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
      • London is located in Tulare County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for London
    • East Orosi
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • East Orosi is located in Tulare County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Orosi
    • Wimp
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Wimp is located in Tulare County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wimp
    • Yettem
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Traver
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Taurusa
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Taurusa is located in Tulare County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Taurusa
    • Goshen
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Ivanhoe
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Fresno County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Smyrna, with the one closest to Smyrna listed first.
    • Orange Cove
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Reedley
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Kingsburg
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Parlier
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Selma
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Selma is located in Fresno County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Selma
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 24,370 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Selma <2>
    • Minkler
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Minkler is located in Fresno County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minkler
    • Yokuts
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Del Rey
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Del Rey is located in Fresno County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Del Rey
    • Sanger
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Gravesboro
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Gravesboro is located in Fresno County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gravesboro
    • Laton
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Conejo
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Conejo is located in Fresno County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Conejo
  • Kings County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Smyrna, with the one closest to Smyrna listed first.
    • Hanford
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Home Garden
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Home Garden is located in Kings County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Home Garden
    • Hardwick
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Hardwick is located in Kings County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hardwick
    • Armona
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Hub
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Hub is located in Kings County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hub
    • Lemoore
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Corcoran
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)

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

Cemeteries Near Smyrna ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Smyrna.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Smyrna, with the one closest to Smyrna listed first.

  • Smith Mtn. Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • S D A Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Reedley Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Kingsburg Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Visalia Public Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Visalia Public Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Visalia Public Cemetery is a very large cemetery that is located in Visalia.
    • The Visalia Public Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Visalia Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #198468 <3>
  • Mendocino Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Odd Fellows Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Lone Oak Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Floral Memorial Park
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
  • North Selma Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
  • West Selma Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
  • Woodlake Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (43 more) ...
    • Deep Creek Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Sanger Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Squaw Valley Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)

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.

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

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

  • Monson
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Monson is located in Tulare County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monson
  • Tokay
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Tokay is located in Tulare County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tokay
  • Orosi
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Traver
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Reedley
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Taurusa
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Taurusa is located in Tulare County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Taurusa
  • Goshen
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • Visalia
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
  • Selma
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Selma is located in Fresno County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Selma
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 24,370 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Selma <2>
  • Auckland
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Auckland is located in Tulare County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Auckland
  • Tagus
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Tagus is located in Tulare County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tagus
  • Yokuts
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Sanger
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Farmersville
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Wildflower
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Wildflower is located in Fresno County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wildflower

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

Newspapers Published in Smyrna ...

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 29 newspapers that have been published in the area around Smyrna.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Smyrna, there are papers which were published within 23 miles [37 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Smyrna.

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 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 Smyrna:

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Smyrna, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Smyrna) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.