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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 University Park (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 University Park. 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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.

University Park is located in Mahaska County.

To see how the shape of Iowa's counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Mahaska County: Jasper, Keokuk, Marion, Monroe, Poweshiek & Wapello.

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

  • Mahaska County     (The home county of University Park)
  • Appanoose County
  • Davis County
    • Carbon
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Carbon. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carbon
      • Carbon is located in Davis County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Carbon
      • From University Park to Carbon
  • Iowa County
  • Jasper County
  • Jefferson County
  • Keokuk County
    • The following are listed by their distance from University Park, with the one closest to University Park listed first.
    • Delta
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Coal Creek
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • What Cheer
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Gibson
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gibson have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gibson
      • Gibson is located in Keokuk County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 59 people
    • Thornburg
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Hedrick
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hedrick have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hedrick
      • Hedrick is located in Keokuk County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 743 people
    • Hayesville
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hayesville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hayesville
      • Hayesville is located in Keokuk County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 48 people
    • Martinsburg
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Martinsburg have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martinsburg
      • Martinsburg is located in Keokuk County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 107 people
    • Sigourney
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sigourney have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sigourney
      • Sigourney is located in Keokuk County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,980 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sigourney <1>
    • Keswick
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Aurora
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Aurora have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aurora
      • Aurora is located in Keokuk County
    • Webster
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Webster have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Webster
      • Webster is located in Keokuk County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 71 people
  • Marion County
  • Monroe County
    • The following are listed by their distance from University Park, with the one closest to University Park listed first.
    • Bluff Creek
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Avery
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Avery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Avery
      • Avery is located in Monroe County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Avery
      • From University Park to Avery
    • Lovilia
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lovilia have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lovilia
      • Lovilia is located in Monroe County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 516 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lovilia <1>
    • Albia
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Georgetown
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Melrose
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Poweshiek County
    • The following are listed by their distance from University Park, with the one closest to University Park listed first.
    • Searsboro
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Tilton
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Tilton. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tilton
      • Tilton is located in Poweshiek County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Tilton
      • From University Park to Tilton
    • Montezuma
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Montezuma have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montezuma
      • Montezuma is located in Poweshiek County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,388 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Montezuma <1>
    • Deep River
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Deep River have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deep River
      • Deep River is located in Poweshiek County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 268 people
    • Guernsey
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Guernsey have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Guernsey
      • Guernsey is located in Poweshiek County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 61 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Guernsey <1>
    • Malcom
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Malcom have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Malcom
      • Malcom is located in Poweshiek County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 275 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Malcom <1>
  • Wapello County

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

Cemeteries Near University Park ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of University Park.

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.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

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

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

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.<5>

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

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

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

Newspapers Published in University Park ...

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 80 newspapers that have been published in the area around University Park.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of University Park, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for University Park.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These websites either 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 University Park:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for University Park. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for State of Iowa: https://www.iowa.gov/

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>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<3>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<4>The Find-a-Grave website is an excellent research tool with information about a cemetery's location and interments. They also offer a forum for their members which can provide additional help. More information about Find-a-Grave can be found on their website: findagrave.com.
<5>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 University Park, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>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- University Park) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in University Park. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.2872, Longitude: -92.6204    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025