RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Iowa >> Washington County >> Nira >> Genealogy HelperIndex...

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 Nira (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 Nira. 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 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.

Nira is located in Washington 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 Washington County: Henry, Iowa, Jefferson, Johnson, Keokuk & Louisa.

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

  • Washington County     (The home county of Nira)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Nira, with the one closest to Nira listed first.
    • Wellman
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • West Chester
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • West Chester is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Chester
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 147 people
    • Kalona
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • 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>
    • Rubio
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
      • Rubio is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rubio
    • Washington
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Riverside
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Brighton
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Havre
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Ainsworth
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Coppock
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Coppock is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coppock
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 48 people
    • Crawfordsville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Benton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Nira, with the one closest to Nira listed first.
    • Norway
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
    • Watkins
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
  • Henry County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Nira, with the one closest to Nira listed first.
    • Wayland
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Olds
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Iowa County
  • Jefferson County
  • Johnson County
  • Keokuk County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Nira, with the one closest to Nira listed first.
    • Kinross
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Kinross is located in Keokuk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kinross
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 71 people
    • Keota
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Harper
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Harper is located in Keokuk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harper
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 107 people
    • South English
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Talleyrand
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Webster
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • Webster is located in Keokuk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Webster
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 71 people
    • Sigourney
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Aurora
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Aurora is located in Keokuk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aurora
    • Keswick
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Richland
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Ollie
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Hayesville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Hayesville is located in Keokuk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hayesville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 48 people
  • Linn County
    • Walford
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
  • Louisa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Nira, with the one closest to Nira listed first.
    • Gladwin
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Cotter
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Cotter is located in Louisa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cotter
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 42 people
    • Wyman
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Mahaska County
  • Muscatine County
  • Poweshiek County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Nira, with the one closest to Nira listed first.
    • Tilton
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Deep River
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Deep River is located in Poweshiek County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deep River
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 268 people
    • Guernsey
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Victor
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Wapello County

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

Cemeteries Near Nira ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Nira.

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

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

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

  • Fairview Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • Bucker Hill Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Wellman Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Mennonite Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Watters Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • St. Marys Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Keota Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Center Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Taylor Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Wassonville Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Walsh Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Church of the Brethren Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (372 more) ...
    • Lafayette Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Lafayette Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Piersol Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)

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 Nira had a population of 29 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service.

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

  • Kinross
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Kinross is located in Keokuk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kinross
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 71 people
  • Wellman
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Creswell
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Creswell is located in Keokuk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Creswell
  • Keota
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Green Center
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Green Center is located in Iowa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Center
  • Lexington
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Lexington is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lexington
  • Harper
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Harper is located in Keokuk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harper
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 107 people
  • North English
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • South English
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • West Chester
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • West Chester is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Chester
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 147 people
  • Parnell
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Amish
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Holbrook
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • Holbrook is located in Iowa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holbrook
    • Talleyrand
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Richmond
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Richmond is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richmond

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

Newspapers Published in Nira ...

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 127 newspapers that have been published in the area around Nira.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Nira, 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 Nira.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin 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 Nira:

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