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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 Willey (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 Willey. 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 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.

Willey is located in Carroll 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 Carroll County: Audubon, Calhoun, Crawford, Greene, Guthrie, Sac & Shelby.

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

  • Carroll County     (The home county of Willey)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Willey, with the one closest to Willey listed first.
    • Dedham
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Carroll Community Estates
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Roselle
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Carroll
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Glidden
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Templeton
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Halbur
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • Halbur is located in Carroll County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halbur
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 252 people
    • Lidderdale
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Ralston
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Coon Rapids
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Arcadia
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Arcadia is located in Carroll County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arcadia
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 531 people
    • Manning
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Audubon County
  • Calhoun County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Willey, with the one closest to Willey listed first.
    • Lake City
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Wightman
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Yetter
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Yetter is located in Calhoun County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yetter
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 31 people
    • Lohrville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Sherwood
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Rands
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Farnhamville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Farnhamville is located in Calhoun County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farnhamville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 335 people
    • Lytton
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Lytton is located in Calhoun County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lytton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 285 people
    • Rockwell City
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
    • Rinard
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Rinard is located in Calhoun County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rinard
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 48 people
  • Crawford County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Willey, with the one closest to Willey listed first.
    • Westside
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Aspinwall
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Vail
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Vail is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vail
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 413 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Vail <1>
    • Manilla
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Astor
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Astor is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Astor
    • Boyer
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Deloit
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Deloit is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deloit
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 254 people
    • Denison
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Sunset Village
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Sunset Village is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Village
    • Kiron
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Buck Grove
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Buck Grove is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buck Grove
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 43 people
  • Greene County
  • Guthrie County
  • Sac County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Willey, with the one closest to Willey listed first.
    • Auburn
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Grant City
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Grant City is located in Sac County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grant City
    • Sac City Junction ‑ Historic
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Sac City Junction is located in Sac County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sac City Junction
    • Herring ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Wall Lake
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Lake View
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Shelby County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Willey, with the one closest to Willey listed first.
    • Botna
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Irwin
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Kirkman
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Kirkman is located in Shelby County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kirkman
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 61 people
    • Defiance
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Defiance is located in Shelby County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Defiance
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 260 people
    • Elk Horn
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Willey ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Willey.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Willey, with the one closest to Willey 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.<3>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Willey had a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Willey had a population of 97 people.

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

  • Dedham
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Carrollton
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Carrollton is located in Carroll County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carrollton
  • Roselle
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Carroll
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Templeton
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Glidden
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Halbur
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Halbur is located in Carroll County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halbur
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 252 people
  • Coon Rapids
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Maple River
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Maple River is located in Carroll County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple River
  • Viola Center
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Viola Center is located in Audubon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Viola Center
  • Kentner
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Kentner is located in Carroll County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kentner
  • Gray
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (18 more) ...
    • Mount Carmel
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
      • Mount Carmel is located in Carroll County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Carmel
    • Manning
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Arcadia
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Arcadia is located in Carroll County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arcadia
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 531 people

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

Newspapers Published in Willey ...

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 108 newspapers that have been published in the area around Willey.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Willey, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Willey.

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 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 Willey:

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>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.
<3>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 Willey, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Willey) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.