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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 Gilead (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 Gilead. 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.

Gilead is located in Adair County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Adair County: Adams, Audubon, Cass, Dallas, Guthrie, Madison & Union.

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

  • Adair County     (The home county of Gilead)
  • Adams County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Gilead, with the one closest to Gilead listed first.
    • Williamson
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Williamson. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Williamson
      • Williamson is located in Adams County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Williamson
      • From Gilead to Williamson
    • Carl
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Carl. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carl
      • Carl is located in Adams County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Carl
      • From Gilead to Carl
    • Mount Etna
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mount Etna have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Etna
      • Mount Etna is located in Adams County
    • Prescott
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Prescott have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prescott
      • Prescott is located in Adams County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 235 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Prescott <1>
    • Stringtown
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stringtown have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stringtown
      • Stringtown is located in Adams County
    • Queen City ‑ Historic
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Queen City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Queen City
      • Queen City is located in Adams County
    • Carbon
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Corning
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Quincy
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Quincy have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quincy
      • Quincy is located in Adams County
    • Lincoln Center
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lincoln Center have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln Center
      • Lincoln Center is located in Adams County
    • Mercer
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Strand
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Strand. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Strand
      • Strand is located in Adams County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Strand
      • From Gilead to Strand
    • Brooks
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
  • Cass County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Gilead, with the one closest to Gilead listed first.
    • Dewey
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Massena
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Cumberland
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Norway Center
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Anita
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Anita have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Anita
      • Anita is located in Cass County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 898 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Anita <1>
    • Lyman
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Wiota
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wiota have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wiota
      • Wiota is located in Cass County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 107 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wiota <1>
    • Grove City ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Grove City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grove City
      • Grove City is located in Cass County
    • Sycamore Village
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sycamore Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sycamore Village
      • Sycamore Village is located in Cass County
    • Atlantic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Atlantic have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Atlantic
      • Atlantic is located in Cass County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,513 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Atlantic <1>
    • Lewis
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Griswold
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
  • Dallas County
  • Guthrie County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Gilead, with the one closest to Gilead listed first.
    • Adair
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Adair have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Adair
      • Adair is located in Guthrie County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 701 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Adair <1>
    • Casey
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Casey have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Casey
      • Casey is located in Guthrie County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 402 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Casey <1>
    • Menlo
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Stuart
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stuart have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stuart
      • Stuart is located in Guthrie County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,756 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Stuart <1>
    • Glendon
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Glendon. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glendon
      • Glendon is located in Guthrie County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Glendon
      • From Gilead to Glendon
  • Madison County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Gilead, with the one closest to Gilead listed first.
    • Macksburg
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Webster
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Pitzer
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Pitzer. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pitzer
      • Pitzer is located in Madison County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Pitzer
      • From Gilead to Pitzer
    • Ord
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Ord. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ord
      • Ord is located in Madison County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Ord
      • From Gilead to Ord
    • Barney
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
  • Montgomery County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Gilead, with the one closest to Gilead listed first.
    • Grant
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Grant have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grant
      • Grant is located in Montgomery County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 84 people
    • Sciola
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Sciola. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sciola
      • Sciola is located in Montgomery County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Sciola
      • From Gilead to Sciola
    • Tenville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Villisca
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Villisca have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Villisca
      • Villisca is located in Montgomery County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,143 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Villisca <1>
    • Stanton
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Elliott
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elliott have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elliott
      • Elliott is located in Montgomery County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 319 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elliott <1>
  • Ringgold County
  • Taylor County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Gilead, with the one closest to Gilead listed first.
    • Lenox
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lenox have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lenox
      • Lenox is located in Taylor County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,386 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lenox <1>
    • Sharpsburg
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Clearfield
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clearfield have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clearfield
      • Clearfield is located in Taylor County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 343 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Clearfield <1>
    • Guss
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Guss. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Guss
      • Guss is located in Taylor County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Guss
      • From Gilead to Guss
    • Conway
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Conway have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Conway
      • Conway is located in Taylor County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 40 people
    • Gravity
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
  • Union County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Gilead, with the one closest to Gilead listed first.
    • Cromwell
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Creston
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • East Creston
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Kent
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Afton
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Afton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Afton
      • Afton is located in Union County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 825 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Afton <1>
    • Arispe
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Shannon City
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shannon City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shannon City
      • Shannon City is located in Union County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 69 people
    • Lorimor
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Thayer
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)

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

Cemeteries Near Gilead ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Gilead.

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.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Gilead, with the one closest to Gilead 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.<5>

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

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

  • Fisk
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fisk have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fisk
    • Fisk is located in Adair County
  • Nevinville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nevinville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nevinville
    • Nevinville is located in Adams County
  • Carl
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Carl. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carl
    • Carl is located in Adams County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Carl
    • From Gilead to Carl
  • Bridgewater
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Mount Etna
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mount Etna have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Etna
    • Mount Etna is located in Adams County
  • Fontanelle
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Orient
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Prescott
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Prescott have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prescott
    • Prescott is located in Adams County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 235 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Prescott <1>
  • Cromwell
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Spaulding
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Spaulding have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spaulding
    • Spaulding is located in Union County
  • Greenfield
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Massena
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Carbon
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Quincy
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Quincy have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quincy
      • Quincy is located in Adams County
    • Corning
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)

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

Newspapers Published in Gilead ...

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 52 newspapers that have been published in the area around Gilead.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Gilead, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Gilead.

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 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 Gilead:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Gilead. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for State of Iowa: https://www.iowa.gov/

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 location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<3>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<4>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.
<5>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 Gilead, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>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- Gilead) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Gilead. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.1724, Longitude: -94.5853       In this case, the coordinates for Gilead have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 13 Jul 2025