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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 Smithland (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 Smithland. 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 southeast 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 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 east 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.

Smithland is located in Woodbury 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 Woodbury County: Cherokee, Ida, Monona, Plymouth, Dakota (NE), Thurston (NE) & Union (SD).

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

  • Woodbury County     (The home county of Smithland)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Smithland, with the one closest to Smithland listed first.
    • Oto
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Hornick
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Hornick is located in Woodbury County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hornick
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 210 people
    • Danbury
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Climbing Hill
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Anthon
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Sloan
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Correctionville
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Moville
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Bronson
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Salix
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Cushing
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Cushing is located in Woodbury County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cushing
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 215 people
    • Pierson
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Pierson is located in Woodbury County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pierson
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 349 people
    • Lawton
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Lawton is located in Woodbury County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lawton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 979 people
  • Cherokee County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Smithland, with the one closest to Smithland listed first.
    • Washta
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Fielding
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
  • Crawford County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Smithland, with the one closest to Smithland listed first.
    • Ricketts
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
      • Ricketts is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ricketts
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 135 people
    • Charter Oak
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Schleswig
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Kenwood
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Bell
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Bell is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bell
    • Arion
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Arion is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arion
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 107 people
    • Dow City
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Harrison County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Smithland, with the one closest to Smithland listed first.
    • Pisgah
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Little Sioux
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
  • Ida County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Smithland, with the one closest to Smithland listed first.
    • Battle Creek
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Ida Grove
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Holstein
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Arthur
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Arthur is located in Ida County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arthur
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 194 people
  • Monona County
  • Plymouth County
    • Kingsley
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
  • Burt County (NE)
  • Dakota County (NE)
  • Thurston County (NE)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Smithland, with the one closest to Smithland listed first.
    • Macy
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Winnebago
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Walthill
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)

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

Cemeteries Near Smithland ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Smithland.

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

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

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

  • Smithland Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
  • Hollister Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
  • Grant Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Oto Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • St. Marys Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • German City Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Peiro Bethel Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Willow Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Heisler Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Center Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • St. Marys Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Mt. Hope Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (105 more) ...
    • Kennebec Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Danbury Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • St. Marys Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)

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 Smithland had a population of 369 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Smithland had a population of 225 people.

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

  • Rodney
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Ticonic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Ticonic is located in Monona County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ticonic
  • Oto
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Mapleton
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Holly Springs
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Holly Springs is located in Woodbury County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holly Springs
  • Hornick
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Hornick is located in Woodbury County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hornick
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 210 people
  • Castana
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Danbury
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • Lucky Valley ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Lucky Valley is located in Woodbury County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lucky Valley
  • Climbing Hill
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Anthon
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
  • Whiting
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Smithland ...

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 56 newspapers that have been published in the area around Smithland.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

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

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 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 Smithland:

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 Smithland, 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- Smithland) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.