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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 Soldier (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 Soldier. 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 and doctors 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.

Soldier is located in Monona 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 Monona County: Crawford, Harrison, Woodbury, Burt (NE) & Thurston (NE).

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

  • Monona County     (The home county of Soldier)
  • Crawford County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Soldier, with the one closest to Soldier listed first.
    • Charter Oak
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Kenwood
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Bell
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
      • Bell is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bell
    • Ricketts
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Ricketts is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ricketts
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 135 people
    • Dow City
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Arion
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Arion is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arion
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 107 people
    • Buck Grove
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Buck Grove is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buck Grove
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 43 people
    • Sunset Village
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Sunset Village is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Village
    • Denison
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Schleswig
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Deloit
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Deloit is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deloit
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 254 people
    • Astor
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Astor is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Astor
  • Harrison County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Soldier, with the one closest to Soldier listed first.
    • Dunlap
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Pisgah
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Woodbine
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Little Sioux
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Orson
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Magnolia
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Magnolia is located in Harrison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magnolia
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 170 people
    • Mondamin
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Logan
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Modale
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Missouri Valley
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Persia
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Persia is located in Harrison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Persia
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 281 people
  • Ida County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Soldier, with the one closest to Soldier listed first.
    • Battle Creek
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Ida Grove
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Shelby County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Soldier, with the one closest to Soldier listed first.
    • Earling
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Earling is located in Shelby County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Earling
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 403 people
    • Panama
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Defiance
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Defiance is located in Shelby County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Defiance
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 260 people
    • Portsmouth
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Westphalia
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Westphalia is located in Shelby County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westphalia
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 117 people
  • Woodbury County
  • Burt County (NE)
  • Thurston County (NE)

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

Cemeteries Near Soldier ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Soldier.

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

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

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

  • Soldier Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • Putman Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Jordan Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Spring Valley Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • St. Clairce Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • St. Marys Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Belvidere Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Bethesda Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Willow Twp. Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Center Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Bisbee Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Preparation Canyon Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (124 more) ...
    • Kennebec Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Mt. Hope Cemetery
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • St. Marys Cemetery
      (11 miles [17.7 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 Soldier had a population of 52 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Soldier had a population of 168 people.

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

  • Moorhead
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Ute
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Ute is located in Monona County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ute
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 337 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ute <1>
  • Castana
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Turin
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Charter Oak
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Mapleton
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
  • Dunlap
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Kenwood
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
  • Bell
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Bell is located in Crawford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bell
  • Blencoe
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
  • Dow City
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
  • Ticonic
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Ticonic is located in Monona County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ticonic
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Manteno
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Manteno is located in Shelby County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manteno
    • Arion
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Arion is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arion
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 107 people
    • Onawa
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Soldier ...

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 88 newspapers that have been published in the area around Soldier.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

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

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 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 Soldier:

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 Soldier, 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 from Point A (ie- Soldier) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.