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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 Zero (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 Zero. 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 hospitals 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.

Zero is located in Lucas 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 Lucas County: Appanoose, Clarke, Decatur, Marion, Monroe, Warren & Wayne.

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

  • Lucas County     (The home county of Zero)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Zero, with the one closest to Zero listed first.
    • Russell
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Olmitz
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Olmitz is located in Lucas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Olmitz
    • Williamson
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Chariton
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Derby
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Derby is located in Lucas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Derby
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 111 people
    • Lucas
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
  • Appanoose County
  • Clarke County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Zero, with the one closest to Zero listed first.
    • Woodburn
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Liberty
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
  • Davis County
  • Decatur County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Zero, with the one closest to Zero listed first.
    • Le Roy
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Garden Grove
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Garden Grove is located in Decatur County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden Grove
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 200 people
  • Mahaska County
  • Marion County
  • Monroe County
  • Wapello County
  • Warren County
  • Wayne County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Zero, with the one closest to Zero listed first.
    • Confidence
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Millerton
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Millerton is located in Wayne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millerton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 42 people
    • Promise City
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Corydon
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Seymour
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Humeston
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Allerton
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Hodge
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Hodge is located in Wayne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hodge
    • Genoa
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Clio
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Putnam County (MO)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Zero, with the one closest to Zero listed first.
    • Saint John
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
    • Pearl City
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Pearl City is located in Putnam County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pearl City

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

Cemeteries Near Zero ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Zero.

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

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

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

  • La Grange Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • Greenville Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • Prather Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Allen Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Old Ireland Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Russell Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Bethel Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Mt. Calvary Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Melrose Methodist Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Grady Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Foutch Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Evans Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (389 more) ...
    • Ragtown Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Manley Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Peterson Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)

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 Zero had a population of 26 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Melrose
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Russell
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Olmitz
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Olmitz is located in Lucas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Olmitz
  • Confidence
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Tyrone
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Tyrone is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tyrone
  • Georgetown
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Weller
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Weller is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weller
  • Chariton
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • New York
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • New York is located in Wayne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New York
  • Belinda
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Belinda is located in Lucas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belinda
  • Iconium
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Indianola Junction
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Indianola Junction is located in Lucas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indianola Junction
  • Continue List   (19 more) ...
    • Whitebreast
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • Whitebreast is located in Lucas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whitebreast
    • Ovia
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Ovia is located in Wayne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ovia
    • Hiteman
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Hiteman is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hiteman

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

Newspapers Published in Zero ...

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 122 newspapers that have been published in the area around Zero.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Zero, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Zero.

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 helpful 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 Zero:

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 Zero, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Zero) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.