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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 McNally (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 McNally. 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 doctors and 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.

McNally is located in Sioux 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 Sioux County: Lyon, O'Brien, Plymouth, Lincoln (SD) & Union (SD).

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

  • Sioux County     (The home county of McNally)
  • Cherokee County
    • Marcus
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
  • Lyon County
    • The following are listed by their distance from McNally, with the one closest to McNally listed first.
    • Doon
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Beloit
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Inwood
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Alvord
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
  • O'Brien County
  • Plymouth County
    • The following are listed by their distance from McNally, with the one closest to McNally listed first.
    • Craig
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
      • Craig is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Craig
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 91 people
    • Struble
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
      • Struble is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Struble
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 77 people
    • Brunsville
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Brunsville is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brunsville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 152 people
    • Akron
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Adaville
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Le Mars
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Merrill
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Westfield
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Millnerville
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Oyens
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Oyens is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oyens
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 102 people
    • Remsen
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Hinton
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
  • Woodbury County
    • The following are listed by their distance from McNally, with the one closest to McNally listed first.
    • Evergreen Village
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Evergreen Village is located in Woodbury County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen Village
    • Holiday Village
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Holiday Village is located in Woodbury County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holiday Village
    • Sioux City
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Dixon County (NE)
  • Clay County (SD)
    • The following are listed by their distance from McNally, with the one closest to McNally listed first.
    • Alsen
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Greenfield
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Glenwood ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Glenwood is located in Clay County (SD)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenwood
      • Estimated population in 2014: 103 people
    • Burbank
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Hub City
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Hub City is located in Clay County (SD)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hub City
    • Komstad ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Bloomingdale
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Riverside ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Vermillion
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Lodi
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Lodi is located in Clay County (SD)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lodi
      • Estimated population in 2014: 82 people
  • Lincoln County (SD)
  • Union County (SD)

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

Cemeteries Near McNally ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of McNally.

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

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

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

  • Dunkard Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • St. Johns Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Pleasant Hill Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • St. Pauls Lutheran Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • St. Johns Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Calvary Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Grace Hill Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • St. Johns Lutheran Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Plymouth Presbyterian Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Christ Lutheran Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Highland Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Mt. Hope Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (128 more) ...
    • Pleasant Valley Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Old Big Springs Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Riverside Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)

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>

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

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

  • Ireton
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Chatsworth
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Hawarden
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Crathorne
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Crathorne is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crathorne
  • Struble
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Struble is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Struble
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 77 people
  • Maurice
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Maurice is located in Sioux County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maurice
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 270 people
  • Big Springs
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Akron
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Adaville
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
  • Alcester
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Seney
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Seney is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seney
  • Sioux Center
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Le Mars
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Nora
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Nora is located in Union County (SD)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nora
      • Estimated population in 2014: 240 people
    • Westfield
      (16 miles [25.7 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 McNally. See our List of 1890's Communities around McNally.

Newspapers Published in McNally ...

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 62 newspapers that have been published in the area around McNally.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of McNally, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for McNally.

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 McNally:

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