RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Illinois >> Saint Clair County >> Bunkum >> Genealogy HelperIndex...

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 Bunkum (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 Bunkum. 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.

Bunkum is located in Saint Clair County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Saint Clair County: Clinton, Madison, Monroe, Randolph, Washington, Saint Louis City (MO) & Saint Louis (MO).

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

  • Saint Clair County     (The home county of Bunkum)
  • Bond County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bunkum, with the one closest to Bunkum listed first.
    • Pierron
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Pocahontas
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Clinton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bunkum, with the one closest to Bunkum listed first.
    • New Baden
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Trenton
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • New Memphis
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Albers
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Aviston
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Damiansville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Saint Rose
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Breese
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Germantown
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
  • Jersey County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bunkum, with the one closest to Bunkum listed first.
    • Elsah
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Chautauqua
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Macoupin County
  • Madison County
  • Monroe County
  • Randolph County
  • Washington County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bunkum, with the one closest to Bunkum listed first.
    • Venedy
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Venedy is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Venedy
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 130 people
    • Okawville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Stone Church
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Caspars
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Jefferson County (MO)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bunkum, with the one closest to Bunkum listed first.
    • Flamm City
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Flamm City is located in Jefferson County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flamm City
    • Arnold
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Arnold is located in Jefferson County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arnold
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 21,145 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Arnold <1>
    • Maxville
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Kimmswick
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Imperial
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Murphy
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Murphy is located in Jefferson County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Murphy
    • Barnhart
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Parkdale
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Parkdale is located in Jefferson County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parkdale
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 162 people
    • High Ridge
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Peaceful Village
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Peaceful Village is located in Jefferson County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peaceful Village
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 67 people
    • Otto
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Pevely
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Pevely is located in Jefferson County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pevely
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,001 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Pevely <1>
  • Saint Charles County (MO)
  • Saint Louis City (MO)
  • Saint Louis County (MO)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bunkum, with the one closest to Bunkum listed first.
    • Glasgow Village
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Glasgow Village is located in Saint Louis County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glasgow Village
    • Riverview
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Riverview is located in Saint Louis County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverview
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,821 people
    • Bellefontaine Neighbors
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Bellefontaine Neighbors is located in Saint Louis County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bellefontaine Neighbors
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 10,297 people
    • Flordell Hills
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Flordell Hills is located in Saint Louis County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flordell Hills
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 800 people
    • Jennings
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Moline Acres
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Moline Acres is located in Saint Louis County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moline Acres
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,339 people
    • Hillsdale
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
      • Hillsdale is located in Saint Louis County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillsdale
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,536 people
    • Pine Lawn
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
      • Pine Lawn is located in Saint Louis County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Lawn
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,579 people
    • Uplands Park
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
      • Uplands Park is located in Saint Louis County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Uplands Park
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 423 people
    • Castle Point
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Castle Point is located in Saint Louis County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Castle Point
    • Country Club Hills
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Country Club Hills is located in Saint Louis County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Country Club Hills
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,245 people
    • Bella Villa
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Bella Villa is located in Saint Louis County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bella Villa
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 721 people
    • Beverly Hills
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Beverly Hills is located in Saint Louis County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beverly Hills
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 551 people

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

Cemeteries Near Bunkum ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Bunkum.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Bunkum, with the one closest to Bunkum 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.<4>

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

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

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

Newspapers Published in Bunkum ...

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 611 newspapers that have been published in the area around Bunkum.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Bunkum, there are papers which were published within 12 miles [19.3 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Bunkum.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with 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 Bunkum:

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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Bunkum) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<4>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 Bunkum, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.