RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Iowa >> Iowa County >> Amana >> 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 Amana (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 Amana. 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 hospitals and doctors 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.

Amana is located in Iowa County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Iowa County: Benton, Johnson, Keokuk, Linn, Poweshiek, Tama & Washington.

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

  • Iowa County     (The home county of Amana)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Amana, with the one closest to Amana listed first.
    • Middle Amana
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • West Amana
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • South Amana
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Conroy
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Conroy is located in Iowa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Conroy
    • Marengo
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Williamsburg
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Parnell
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Dayton
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Dayton is located in Iowa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dayton
    • Ladora
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Millersburg
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • North English
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Ambrose
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Ambrose is located in Iowa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ambrose
  • Benton County
  • Cedar County
  • Johnson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Amana, with the one closest to Amana listed first.
    • Oxford
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Swisher
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Cou Falls
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Shueyville
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Shueyville is located in Johnson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shueyville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 655 people
    • Cosgrove
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Tiffin
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • North Liberty
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Windham
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Coralville
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Oakdale
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Oakdale is located in Johnson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakdale
    • Frytown
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Williamstown
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Amish
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
  • Jones County
  • Keokuk County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Amana, with the one closest to Amana listed first.
    • Kinross
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Kinross is located in Keokuk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kinross
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 71 people
    • South English
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Aurora
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Aurora is located in Keokuk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aurora
    • Webster
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Webster is located in Keokuk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Webster
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 71 people
    • Keota
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
    • Keswick
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Linn County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Amana, with the one closest to Amana listed first.
    • Walford
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Fairfax
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Western
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Grand View Village
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Grand View Village is located in Linn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand View Village
    • Cedar Hills
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Lincolnway Village
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Lincolnway Village is located in Linn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincolnway Village
    • Ely
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Covington
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Cedar Rapids
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Palo
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Hiawatha
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Louisa
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Louisa is located in Linn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Louisa
    • Sunset Village
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Sunset Village is located in Linn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Village
  • Poweshiek County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Amana, with the one closest to Amana listed first.
    • Victor
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Hartwick
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Guernsey
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Deep River
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Deep River is located in Poweshiek County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deep River
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 268 people
    • Brooklyn
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
  • Tama County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Amana, with the one closest to Amana listed first.
    • Elberon
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Chelsea
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Vining
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Washington County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Amana, with the one closest to Amana listed first.
    • Wellman
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Kalona
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Kalona is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kalona
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,560 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Kalona <1>
    • Nira
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Riverside
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Amana ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Amana.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Amana, with the one closest to Amana 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 in 1895, Amana had a post office and railroad service.

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

  • Homestead
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • South Amana
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Walford
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Oxford
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Norway
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Conroy
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Conroy is located in Iowa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Conroy
  • Watkins
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Fairfax
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Marengo
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Williamsburg
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Shueyville
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Shueyville is located in Johnson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shueyville
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 655 people
  • Cosgrove
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Amana ...

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 187 newspapers that have been published in the area around Amana.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Amana. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Amana and those printed in the larger area surrounding Amana.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4> of Amana.

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 Amana:

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 Amana, 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 from Point A (ie- Amana) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.