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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 Meeks (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 Meeks. 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 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.

Meeks is located in Vermilion 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 Vermilion County: Champaign, Douglas, Edgar, Ford, Iroquois, Benton (IN), Vermillion (IN) & Warren (IN).

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

  • Vermilion County     (The home county of Meeks)
  • Champaign County
  • Douglas County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Meeks, with the one closest to Meeks listed first.
    • Newman
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Fairland
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Fairland is located in Douglas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairland
    • Murdock
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Edgar County
  • Fountain County (IN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Meeks, with the one closest to Meeks listed first.
    • Covington
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Harveysburg
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Layton
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Kingman
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Kingman is located in Fountain County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingman
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 458 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Kingman <1>
    • Veedersburg
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Stone Bluff
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Hillsboro
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Wallace
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Wallace is located in Fountain County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wallace
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 83 people
    • Mellott
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Mellott is located in Fountain County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mellott
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 194 people
    • Attica
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Newtown
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Newtown is located in Fountain County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newtown
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 244 people
  • Montgomery County (IN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Meeks, with the one closest to Meeks listed first.
    • Alamo
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Alamo is located in Montgomery County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alamo
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 63 people
    • Waynetown
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Waveland
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Waveland is located in Montgomery County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waveland
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 417 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Waveland <1>
    • Wingate
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Wingate is located in Montgomery County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wingate
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 267 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wingate <1>
    • Wesley
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
  • Parke County (IN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Meeks, with the one closest to Meeks listed first.
    • West Union
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Montezuma
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Annapolis
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Armiesburg
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Grange Corner
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Bloomingdale
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Marshall
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Marshall is located in Parke County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marshall
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 315 people
    • Mecca
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Mecca is located in Parke County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mecca
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 325 people
    • Rockville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Byron
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Billie Creek Village
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Billie Creek Village is located in Parke County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Billie Creek Village
    • Nyesville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Vermillion County (IN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Meeks, with the one closest to Meeks listed first.
    • Eugene
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Gessie
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Rileysburg
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Cayuga
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Cayuga is located in Vermillion County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cayuga
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,095 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cayuga <1>
    • Perrysville
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Tree Spring
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Newport
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Newport is located in Vermillion County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newport
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 475 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Newport <1>
    • Dana
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Dana is located in Vermillion County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dana
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 564 people
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Dana
      • From Meeks to Dana
    • Hillsdale
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Hillsdale is located in Vermillion County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillsdale
    • Alta
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Saint Bernice
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Summit Grove
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Vigo County (IN)
  • Warren County (IN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Meeks, with the one closest to Meeks listed first.
    • Foster
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • State Line
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Baltimore ‑ Historic
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • State Line City
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • State Line City is located in Warren County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for State Line City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 137 people
    • Old Town
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Old Town is located in Warren County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Town
    • Hedrick
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Sloan ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • West Lebanon
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Pence
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Williamsport
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Brisco ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)

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

Cemeteries Near Meeks ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Meeks.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Meeks, with the one closest to Meeks 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>

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

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

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

Newspapers Published in Meeks ...

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 126 newspapers that have been published in the area around Meeks.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Meeks, there are papers which were published within 21 miles [33.8 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Meeks.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we 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 Meeks:

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 Meeks, 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Meeks) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.