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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 Britt (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 Britt. 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 doctors and 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.

Britt is located in Hancock 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 Hancock County: Cerro Gordo, Franklin, Humboldt, Kossuth, Winnebago, Worth & Wright.

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

  • Hancock County     (The home county of Britt)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Britt, with the one closest to Britt listed first.
    • Duncan
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Hutchins
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Crystal Lake
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
      • Crystal Lake is located in Hancock County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crystal Lake
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 228 people
    • Garner
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Woden
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Kanawha
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Corwith
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Corwith is located in Hancock County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Corwith
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 245 people
    • Klemme
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Goodell
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Cerro Gordo County
  • Franklin County
  • Humboldt County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Britt, with the one closest to Britt listed first.
    • Renwick
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Hardy
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Livermore
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Livermore is located in Humboldt County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Livermore
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 361 people
    • Arnold
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Bode
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Thor
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Kossuth County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Britt, with the one closest to Britt listed first.
    • Wesley
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Wesley is located in Kossuth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wesley
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 364 people
    • Sexton
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Titonka
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Titonka is located in Kossuth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Titonka
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 433 people
    • German Valley
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Lu Verne
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Irvington
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Algona
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Burt
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
      • Burt is located in Kossuth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burt
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 493 people
    • Bancroft
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Lakota
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Lakota is located in Kossuth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakota
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 275 people
    • Gerled
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Lone Rock
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
  • Winnebago County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Britt, with the one closest to Britt listed first.
    • Forest City
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Thompson
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Leland
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Buffalo Center
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Vinje
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Lake Mills
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Rake
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Rake is located in Winnebago County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rake
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 206 people
    • Scarville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
  • Worth County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Britt, with the one closest to Britt listed first.
    • Fertile
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Hanlontown
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Hanlontown is located in Worth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hanlontown
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 220 people
    • Joice
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Joice is located in Worth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Joice
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 209 people
    • Bristol
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Wright County
  • Faribault County (MN)
    • Kiester
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Kiester is located in Faribault County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kiester
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 456 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Kiester <1>

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

Cemeteries Near Britt ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Britt.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Britt, with the one closest to Britt 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 Britt had a population of 818 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Britt had a population of 1,928 people.

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

  • Hutchins
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Stilson
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Stilson is located in Hancock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stilson
  • Hayfield
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Hayfield is located in Hancock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hayfield
  • Crystal Lake
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Crystal Lake is located in Hancock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crystal Lake
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 228 people
  • Wesley
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Wesley is located in Kossuth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wesley
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 364 people
  • Corwith
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Corwith is located in Hancock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Corwith
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 245 people
  • Garner
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • Klemme
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Miller
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Miller is located in Hancock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Miller
  • Forest City
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Sexton
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
  • Olaf
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Britt ...

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 107 newspapers that have been published in the area around Britt.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

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

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we start 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 Britt:

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 Britt, 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- Britt) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.