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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 Grays Corner (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 Grays Corner. 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.

Name Variations for Grays Corner ...

When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might occur.

  • A typical abbreviation for Grays Corner: Grays Cor. (or less commonly used: Grays Crn.)
  • While the name of this community is Grays Corner, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Grays Corner may originally have been Gray's Corner.

    Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Grays Corner might be written as Gray Corner.

You might be interested in other communities that are also named Grays Corner. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Grays Corner.

If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.

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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.

Grays Corner is located in Lawrence 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 Lawrence County: Crawford, Richland, Wabash & Knox (IN).

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

  • Lawrence County     (The home county of Grays Corner)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Grays Corner, with the one closest to Grays Corner listed first.
    • Billett
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Billett is located in Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Billett
    • Bridgeport
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Saint Francisville
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Lawrenceville
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Petersburg
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Helena
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • Helena is located in Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Helena
    • Sumner
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Birds
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Russellville
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Crawford County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Grays Corner, with the one closest to Grays Corner listed first.
    • Oil Grove
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Oil Grove is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oil Grove
    • Villas
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Villas is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Villas
    • Landes
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Landes is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Landes
    • Flat Rock
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Hardinville
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Hardinville is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hardinville
    • Heathsville
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Heathsville is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heathsville
    • Green Brier
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Green Brier is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Brier
    • Duncanville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Duncanville is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duncanville
    • New Hebron
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • New Hebron is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Hebron
    • Oil Center
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Oil Center is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oil Center
    • Gordon
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Gordon is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gordon
    • Palestine
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
  • Edwards County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Grays Corner, with the one closest to Grays Corner listed first.
    • Mills Prairie ‑ Historic
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Mills Prairie is located in Edwards County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mills Prairie
    • West Salem
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
      • West Salem is located in Edwards County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Salem
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 844 people
    • Bone Gap
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Maple Grove
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Maple Grove is located in Edwards County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Grove
    • Marion
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Marion is located in Edwards County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marion
    • Browns
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Bennington
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Bennington is located in Edwards County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bennington
    • Red Top
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Red Top is located in Edwards County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Top
    • Albion
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Ellery
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Jasper County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Grays Corner, with the one closest to Grays Corner listed first.
    • West Liberty
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • West Liberty is located in Jasper County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Liberty
    • Sainte Marie
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Willow Hill
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Richland County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Grays Corner, with the one closest to Grays Corner listed first.
    • Berryville
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
      • Berryville is located in Richland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berryville
    • Amity
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Amity is located in Richland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Amity
    • Claremont
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Calhoun
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Parkersburg
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Olney
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Olney is located in Richland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Olney
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 8,667 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Olney <2>
    • Dundas
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Gallagher
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Gallagher is located in Richland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gallagher
    • Noble
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Wynoose
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Wynoose is located in Richland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wynoose
    • Passport
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Passport is located in Richland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Passport
  • Wabash County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Grays Corner, with the one closest to Grays Corner listed first.
    • Orio
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Orio is located in Wabash County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orio
    • Allendale
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Adams Corner
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Adams Corner is located in Wabash County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Adams Corner
    • Lancaster
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Lancaster is located in Wabash County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lancaster
    • Patton
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Patton is located in Wabash County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Patton
    • Mount Carmel
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Bellmont
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Keensburg
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
  • Wayne County
    • Mount Erie
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
  • White County
    • Grayville
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Davies's County (IN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Grays Corner, with the one closest to Grays Corner listed first.
    • Sandy Hook
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Sandy Hook is located in Davies's County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Hook
    • Graham
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Graham is located in Davies's County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Graham
    • Capehart
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Capehart is located in Davies's County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Capehart
    • Washington
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
  • Gibson County (IN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Grays Corner, with the one closest to Grays Corner listed first.
    • Hazleton
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Giro
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Giro is located in Gibson County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Giro
    • Patoka
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Patoka is located in Gibson County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Patoka
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 784 people
    • Princeton
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Douglas
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Douglas is located in Gibson County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Douglas
    • Owensville
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Francisco
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Francisco is located in Gibson County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Francisco
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 558 people
    • Dongola
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Dongola is located in Gibson County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dongola
    • Fort Branch
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Mounts
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Mounts is located in Gibson County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mounts
    • Oakland City
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Knox County (IN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Grays Corner, with the one closest to Grays Corner listed first.
    • Beal
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Beal is located in Knox County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beal
    • Vincennes
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Decker
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Decker is located in Knox County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Decker
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 244 people
    • Verne
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • Verne is located in Knox County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Verne
    • Fritchton
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Fritchton is located in Knox County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fritchton
    • Bruceville
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Monroe City
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
      • Monroe City is located in Knox County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monroe City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 526 people
    • Busseron
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Busseron is located in Knox County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Busseron
    • Willis
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Willis is located in Knox County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willis
    • Oaktown
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Ragsdale
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Ragsdale is located in Knox County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ragsdale
    • Wheatland
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Wheatland is located in Knox County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wheatland
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 469 people
  • Pike County (IN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Grays Corner, with the one closest to Grays Corner listed first.
    • Union
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Union is located in Pike County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union
    • Oatsville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Oatsville is located in Pike County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oatsville
    • Petersburg
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Petersburg is located in Pike County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Petersburg
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,299 people
    • Alford
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Alford is located in Pike County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alford
    • Glezen
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Glezen is located in Pike County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glezen
  • Sullivan County (IN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Grays Corner, with the one closest to Grays Corner listed first.
    • Carlisle
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Merom
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Merom is located in Sullivan County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merom
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 214 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Merom <2>
    • New Lebanon
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Grays Corner ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Grays Corner.

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 Grays Corner - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Buchanan Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
  • Bunker Hill Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Collins Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Kinkade Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
  • Denison Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
  • Billett Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Billett Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Billett Cemetery is located in Billett.
    • The Billett Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Billett - Gottfried Cemetery
    • Gottfried Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1312081 <3>
  • Hollister Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Immaculate Conception Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Shiloh Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Olive Branch Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Jordan Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Oak Lawn Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (404 more) ...
    • Spring Hill Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Mt. Zion Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Moffett Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)

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 Grays Corner in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Grays Corner.

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

  • Billett
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Billett is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Billett
  • Saint Francisville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Bridgeport
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Petersburg
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Beal
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Beal is located in Knox County (IN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beal
  • Lawrenceville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Allendale
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Sumner
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Friendsville
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Friendsville is located in Wabash County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friendsville
  • Pinkstaff
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Pinkstaff is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pinkstaff
  • Berryville
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Berryville is located in Richland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berryville
  • Patton
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Patton is located in Wabash County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Patton
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Purcell
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Purcell is located in Knox County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Purcell
    • Vincennes
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Westport
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
      • Westport is located in Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westport

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

Newspapers Published in Grays Corner ...

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 105 newspapers that have been published in the area around Grays Corner.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Grays Corner, there are papers which were published within 26 miles [41.8 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Grays Corner.

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 Grays Corner:

Footnotes ...

<1>It's generally believed that possessive apostrophes are removed to prevent confusion on maps where the apostrophe may be confused with a cartographic symbol. While this is generally true, it's not uncommon to find possessive apostrophes in administrative names (such as towns or counties).
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Grays Corner, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<5>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 from Point A (ie- Grays Corner) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.