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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 Oak Park (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 Oak Park. 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 doctors and hospitals 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.

Oak Park is located in Cook 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 Cook County: DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, Will, Lake (IN) & Berrien (MI).

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

  • Cook County     (The home county of Oak Park)
  • DuPage County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oak Park, with the one closest to Oak Park listed first.
    • South Elmhurst
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Elmhurst
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Bensenville
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Hinsdale
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Oak Brook Terrace
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Oak Brook Terrace is located in DuPage County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Brook Terrace
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,094 people
    • Oak Brook
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Utopia
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Villa Park
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Villa Park is located in DuPage County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Villa Park
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 21,291 people
    • Clarendon Hills
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • York Center
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • York Center is located in DuPage County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for York Center
    • Addison
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Lombard
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Kane County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oak Park, with the one closest to Oak Park listed first.
    • Geneva
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Batavia
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Coleman
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Elgin
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Saint Charles
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • East Dundee
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Aurora
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Mooseheart
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • South Elgin
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • South Elgin is located in Kane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Elgin
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 24,646 people
    • North Aurora
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • North Aurora is located in Kane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Aurora
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 18,144 people
    • Carpentersville
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Bonnie
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Bonnie is located in Kane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bonnie
      • Bonnie has also been known as:
      • Bonnie Valley
  • Kendall County
    • Boulder Hill
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Boulder Hill is located in Kendall County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boulder Hill
  • Lake County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oak Park, with the one closest to Oak Park listed first.
    • Braeside
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Braeside is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Braeside
    • Deerfield
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Ravinia
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Ravinia is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ravinia
    • Highland Park
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Riverwoods
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Buffalo Grove
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Bannockburn
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Highwood
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Lincolnshire
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Aptakisic
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Prairie View
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Deer Park
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
  • McHenry County
    • Fox River Grove
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Will County
  • Lake County (IN)

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

Cemeteries Near Oak Park ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Oak Park.

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 Oak Park - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Oak Park had a population of 4,771 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Oak Park had a population of 51,852 people.

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

  • Austin
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Austin is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Austin
  • Berwyn
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • Mont Clare
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Mont Clare is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mont Clare
  • Mandell
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Mandell is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mandell
  • Central Park
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Central Park is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Central Park
  • Moreland
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Cragin
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Cragin is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cragin
  • Galewood
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Galewood is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galewood
  • Maywood
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • LaVergne
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • LaVergne is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for LaVergne
  • Clyde
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Clyde is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clyde
  • Crawford
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Crawford is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crawford
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Humboldt Park
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Humboldt Park is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Humboldt Park
    • Pacific Junction
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Hermosa
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Hermosa is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hermosa

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Oak Park ...

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 85 newspapers that have been published in the area around Oak Park.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Oak Park. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Oak Park and those printed in the larger area surrounding Oak Park.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 8 miles [12.9 km]<4> of Oak Park.

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 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 Oak Park:

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 Oak Park, 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- Oak Park) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.