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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 Carson (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 Carson. 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 northeast 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 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 east 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.

Carson is located in Pottawattamie 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 Pottawattamie County: Cass, Harrison, Mills, Montgomery, Shelby, Douglas (NE), Sarpy (NE) & Washington (NE).

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

  • Pottawattamie County     (The home county of Carson)
  • Adams County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Carson, with the one closest to Carson listed first.
    • Lincoln Center
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Lincoln Center is located in Adams County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln Center
    • Strand
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
  • Cass County
  • Fremont County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Carson, with the one closest to Carson listed first.
    • Imogene
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Randolph
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Tabor
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Harrison County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Carson, with the one closest to Carson listed first.
    • Yorkshire
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Persia
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Persia is located in Harrison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Persia
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 281 people
  • Mills County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Carson, with the one closest to Carson listed first.
    • Henderson
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Silver City
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Emerson
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Hastings
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • Hastings is located in Mills County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hastings
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 149 people
    • Mineola
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Malvern
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Clark
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Clark is located in Mills County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clark
    • Glenwood
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Folsom
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Folsom is located in Mills County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Folsom
    • Hentons ‑ Historic
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Hentons is located in Mills County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hentons
    • Mills
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Pacific City
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Pacific City is located in Mills County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pacific City
    • Pacific Junction
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
  • Montgomery County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Carson, with the one closest to Carson listed first.
    • Elliott
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Red Oak
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Grant
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Grant is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grant
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 84 people
    • Coburg
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Coburg is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coburg
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 39 people
    • Stanton
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Sciola
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Tenville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Clarinda Junction ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Clarinda Junction is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clarinda Junction
  • Page County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Carson, with the one closest to Carson listed first.
    • Nyman
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Essex
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
  • Shelby County
  • Cass County (NE)
    • Plattsmouth
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Douglas County (NE)
  • Sarpy County (NE)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Carson, with the one closest to Carson listed first.
    • Avery
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Avery is located in Sarpy County (NE)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Avery
    • Bellevue
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • La Platte
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Gilmore
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Gilmore is located in Sarpy County (NE)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gilmore

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

Cemeteries Near Carson ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Carson.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Carson, with the one closest to Carson 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 Carson had a population of 391 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Carson had a population of 813 people.

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

  • Macedonia
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Oakland
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Taylor
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Taylor is located in Pottawattamie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Taylor
  • Henderson
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Wales
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Wales is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wales
  • Hancock
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Hancock is located in Pottawattamie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hancock
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 196 people
  • York Center
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • York Center is located in Pottawattamie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for York Center
  • Quick
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Quick is located in Pottawattamie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quick
  • Silver City
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Elliott
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Griswold
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
  • Mineola
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Hastings
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • Hastings is located in Mills County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hastings
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 149 people
    • Emerson
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Stennett
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Stennett is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stennett

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Carson ...

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 42 newspapers that have been published in the area around Carson.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Carson. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Carson and those printed in the larger area surrounding Carson.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<4> of Carson.

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 helpful 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 Carson:

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 Carson, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Carson) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.