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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 Carroll (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 Carroll. 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 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.

Carroll is located in Carroll County and is the County Seat.

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 Carroll County: Audubon, Calhoun, Crawford, Greene, Guthrie, Sac & Shelby.

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

  • Carroll County     (The home county of Carroll)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Carroll, with the one closest to Carroll listed first.
    • Carroll Community Estates
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Lidderdale
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Roselle
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Willey
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Halbur
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Halbur is located in Carroll County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halbur
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 252 people
    • Glidden
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Breda
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Arcadia
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Arcadia is located in Carroll County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arcadia
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 531 people
    • Templeton
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Dedham
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Ralston
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Lanesboro
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Lanesboro is located in Carroll County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lanesboro
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 108 people
    • Manning
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Audubon County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Carroll, with the one closest to Carroll listed first.
    • Gray
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Ross
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Audubon
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Fiscus
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Fiscus is located in Audubon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fiscus
    • Hamlin
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
  • Calhoun County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Carroll, with the one closest to Carroll listed first.
    • Lake City
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Yetter
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Yetter is located in Calhoun County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yetter
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 31 people
    • Wightman
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Sherwood
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Lohrville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Rands
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Lytton
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Lytton is located in Calhoun County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lytton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 285 people
    • Rockwell City
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Farnhamville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Farnhamville is located in Calhoun County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farnhamville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 335 people
    • Rinard
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Rinard is located in Calhoun County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rinard
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 48 people
    • Jolley
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Twin Lakes
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
  • Crawford County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Carroll, with the one closest to Carroll listed first.
    • Westside
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Aspinwall
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Vail
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Vail is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vail
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 413 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Vail <1>
    • Boyer
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Manilla
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Deloit
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Deloit is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deloit
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 254 people
    • Astor
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Astor is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Astor
    • Denison
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Kiron
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Sunset Village
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Sunset Village is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Village
    • Buck Grove
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Buck Grove is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buck Grove
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 43 people
    • Schleswig
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
  • Greene County
  • Guthrie County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Carroll, with the one closest to Carroll listed first.
    • Bayard
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Bagley
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Bagley is located in Guthrie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bagley
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 285 people
    • North Branch
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
    • Herndon
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Ida County
    • Arthur
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Arthur is located in Ida County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arthur
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 194 people
  • Sac County
  • Shelby County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Carroll, with the one closest to Carroll listed first.
    • Botna
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Irwin
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Defiance
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Defiance is located in Shelby County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Defiance
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 260 people

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

Cemeteries Near Carroll ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Carroll.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Carroll, with the one closest to Carroll 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 Carroll had a population of 2,448 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Carroll had a population of 9,694 people.

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

  • Maple River
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Maple River is located in Carroll County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple River
  • Roselle
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Halbur
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Halbur is located in Carroll County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halbur
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 252 people
  • Mount Carmel
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Mount Carmel is located in Carroll County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Carmel
  • Willey
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Glidden
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Kentner
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Kentner is located in Carroll County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kentner
  • Breda
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Arcadia
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Arcadia is located in Carroll County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arcadia
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 531 people
  • Templeton
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Carrollton
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Carrollton is located in Carroll County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carrollton
  • Dedham
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Westside
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Auburn
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Grant City
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Grant City is located in Sac County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grant City

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Carroll ...

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 94 newspapers that have been published in the area around Carroll.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Carroll. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Carroll and those printed in the larger area surrounding Carroll.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<4> of Carroll.

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 Carroll:

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