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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 Williamson (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 Williamson. 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 hospitals and 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.

Williamson is located in Adams 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 Adams County: Adair, Cass, Montgomery, Page, Ringgold, Taylor & Union.

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

  • Adams County     (The home county of Williamson)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Williamson, with the one closest to Williamson listed first.
    • Carl
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Carl. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carl
      • Carl is located in Adams County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Carl
      • From Williamson to Carl
    • Prescott
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Prescott have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prescott
      • Prescott is located in Adams County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 235 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Prescott <3>
    • Mount Etna
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mount Etna have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Etna
      • Mount Etna is located in Adams County
    • Stringtown
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stringtown have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stringtown
      • Stringtown is located in Adams County
    • Queen City ‑ Historic
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Queen City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Queen City
      • Queen City is located in Adams County
    • Corning
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Quincy
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Quincy have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quincy
      • Quincy is located in Adams County
    • Mercer
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Carbon
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Lincoln Center
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lincoln Center have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln Center
      • Lincoln Center is located in Adams County
    • Brooks
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Strand
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Strand. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Strand
      • Strand is located in Adams County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Strand
      • From Williamson to Strand
  • Adair County
  • Cass County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Williamson, with the one closest to Williamson listed first.
    • Dewey
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Massena
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Cumberland
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Norway Center
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Lyman
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Anita
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Anita have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Anita
      • Anita is located in Cass County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 898 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Anita <3>
    • Wiota
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wiota have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wiota
      • Wiota is located in Cass County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 107 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wiota <3>
    • Grove City ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Grove City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grove City
      • Grove City is located in Cass County
    • Sycamore Village
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sycamore Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sycamore Village
      • Sycamore Village is located in Cass County
    • Atlantic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Atlantic have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Atlantic
      • Atlantic is located in Cass County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,513 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Atlantic <3>
    • Lewis
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Griswold
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Guthrie County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Williamson, with the one closest to Williamson listed first.
    • Adair
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Adair have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Adair
      • Adair is located in Guthrie County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 701 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Adair <3>
    • Casey
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Casey have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Casey
      • Casey is located in Guthrie County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 402 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Casey <3>
    • Menlo
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Stuart
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stuart have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stuart
      • Stuart is located in Guthrie County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,756 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Stuart <3>
  • Madison County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Williamson, with the one closest to Williamson listed first.
    • Macksburg
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Webster
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Pitzer
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Pitzer. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pitzer
      • Pitzer is located in Madison County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Pitzer
      • From Williamson to Pitzer
    • Ord
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Ord. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ord
      • Ord is located in Madison County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Ord
      • From Williamson to Ord
    • Barney
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
  • Montgomery County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Williamson, with the one closest to Williamson listed first.
    • Grant
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Grant have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grant
      • Grant is located in Montgomery County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 84 people
    • Sciola
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Sciola. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sciola
      • Sciola is located in Montgomery County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Sciola
      • From Williamson to Sciola
    • Tenville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Villisca
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Villisca have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Villisca
      • Villisca is located in Montgomery County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,143 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Villisca <3>
    • Stanton
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
  • Ringgold County
  • Taylor County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Williamson, with the one closest to Williamson listed first.
    • Lenox
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lenox have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lenox
      • Lenox is located in Taylor County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,386 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lenox <3>
    • Clearfield
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clearfield have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clearfield
      • Clearfield is located in Taylor County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 343 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Clearfield <3>
    • Sharpsburg
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Guss
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Guss. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Guss
      • Guss is located in Taylor County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Guss
      • From Williamson to Guss
    • Conway
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Conway have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Conway
      • Conway is located in Taylor County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 40 people
    • Gravity
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Ladoga
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Ladoga. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ladoga
      • Ladoga is located in Taylor County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Ladoga
      • From Williamson to Ladoga
  • Union County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Williamson, with the one closest to Williamson listed first.
    • Cromwell
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Creston
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • East Creston
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Kent
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Afton
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Afton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Afton
      • Afton is located in Union County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 825 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Afton <3>
    • Arispe
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Shannon City
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shannon City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shannon City
      • Shannon City is located in Union County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 69 people
    • Lorimor
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Thayer
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)

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

Cemeteries Near Williamson ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Williamson.

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 Williamson covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Williamson, with the one closest to Williamson 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 Williamson in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Williamson.

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

  • Nevinville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nevinville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nevinville
    • Nevinville is located in Adams County
  • Fisk
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fisk have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fisk
    • Fisk is located in Adair County
  • Carl
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Carl. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carl
    • Carl is located in Adams County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Carl
    • From Williamson to Carl
  • Mount Etna
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mount Etna have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Etna
    • Mount Etna is located in Adams County
  • Prescott
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Prescott have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prescott
    • Prescott is located in Adams County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 235 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Prescott <3>
  • Cromwell
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Orient
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Bridgewater
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Spaulding
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Spaulding have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spaulding
    • Spaulding is located in Union County
  • Fontanelle
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Creston
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • East Creston
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in Williamson ...

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 36 newspapers that have been published in the area around Williamson.

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

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 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 Williamson:

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

The official website for Adams County: www.co.adams.ia.us/

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>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.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Williamson, 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- Williamson) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Williamson. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.1437, Longitude: -94.5661       In this case, the coordinates for Williamson have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025