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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 Keota (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 Keota. 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 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.

Keota is located in Keokuk 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 Keokuk County: Iowa, Jefferson, Mahaska, Poweshiek, Wapello & Washington.

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

  • Keokuk County     (The home county of Keota)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Keota, with the one closest to Keota listed first.
    • Talleyrand
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Harper
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Harper is located in Keokuk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harper
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 107 people
    • Kinross
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Kinross is located in Keokuk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kinross
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 71 people
    • South English
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Webster
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Webster is located in Keokuk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Webster
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 71 people
    • Richland
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Ollie
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Sigourney
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Keswick
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Hayesville
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Hayesville is located in Keokuk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hayesville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 48 people
    • Nugent
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Nugent is located in Keokuk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nugent
    • Aurora
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Aurora is located in Keokuk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aurora
    • Delta
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
  • Henry County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Keota, with the one closest to Keota listed first.
    • Wayland
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Olds
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Swedesburg
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Rome
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Rome is located in Henry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rome
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 117 people
  • Iowa County
  • Jefferson County
  • Johnson County
  • Louisa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Keota, with the one closest to Keota listed first.
    • Cotter
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Cotter is located in Louisa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cotter
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 42 people
    • Gladwin
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Wyman
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Columbus City
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Columbus City is located in Louisa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Columbus City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 371 people
  • Mahaska County
  • Poweshiek County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Keota, with the one closest to Keota listed first.
    • Tilton
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Deep River
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Deep River is located in Poweshiek County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deep River
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 268 people
    • Guernsey
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Victor
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Wapello County
  • Washington County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Keota, with the one closest to Keota listed first.
    • Nira
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • West Chester
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • West Chester is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Chester
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 147 people
    • Wellman
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Rubio
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Rubio is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rubio
    • Washington
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Brighton
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Kalona
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • 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>
    • Coppock
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Coppock is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coppock
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 48 people
    • Havre
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Ainsworth
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Riverside
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Crawfordsville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Keota ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Keota.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Keota, with the one closest to Keota listed first.

  • St. Marys Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • Keota Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • Lafayette Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
  • Lafayette Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
  • St.s Peter & Paul Catholic Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Talleyrand Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Center Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Baden Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Tyrone Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Westminister Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • St. Elizabeths Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Bethel Methodist Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (402 more) ...
    • Shockley Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Valley Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Middleton Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)

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.<2>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Keota had a population of 777 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Keota had a population of 958 people.

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

  • Talleyrand
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Harper
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Harper is located in Keokuk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harper
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 107 people
  • Creswell
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Creswell is located in Keokuk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Creswell
  • Kinross
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Kinross is located in Keokuk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kinross
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 71 people
  • Nira
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • West Chester
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • West Chester is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Chester
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 147 people
  • Lexington
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Lexington is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lexington
  • Grace Hill
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Grace Hill is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grace Hill
  • Wellman
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
  • South English
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Richland
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
  • North English
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Green Center
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
      • Green Center is located in Iowa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Center
    • Webster
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Webster is located in Keokuk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Webster
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 71 people
    • Ollie
      (13 miles [20.9 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 Keota. See our List of 1890's Communities around Keota.

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Keota ...

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 99 newspapers that have been published in the area around Keota.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Keota. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Keota and those printed in the larger area surrounding Keota.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3> of Keota.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 Keota:

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>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 Keota, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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- Keota) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.