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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 Soperville (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 Soperville. 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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors 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.

Soperville is located in Knox 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 Knox County: Fulton, Henry, Mercer, Peoria, Stark & Warren.

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

  • Knox County     (The home county of Soperville)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Soperville, with the one closest to Soperville listed first.
    • Henderson Grove
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Henderson Grove is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Henderson Grove
    • Henderson
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Galesburg
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Wataga
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • East Galesburg
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • East Galesburg is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Galesburg
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 761 people
    • Rio
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Knox
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Knox is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knox
    • Knoxville
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Oneida
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Appleton
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
      • Appleton is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Appleton
    • Altona
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Abingdon
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
  • Fulton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Soperville, with the one closest to Soperville listed first.
    • London Mills
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Avon
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Ellisville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Fairview
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Babylon
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Babylon is located in Fulton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Babylon
    • Farmington
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Bybee
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Bybee is located in Fulton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bybee
  • Henderson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Soperville, with the one closest to Soperville listed first.
    • Rozetta
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Rozetta is located in Henderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rozetta
    • Biggsville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Biggsville is located in Henderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Biggsville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 273 people
    • Media
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Media is located in Henderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Media
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 93 people
    • Milroy
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Milroy is located in Henderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milroy
    • Oquawka
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Gladstone
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Henry County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Soperville, with the one closest to Soperville listed first.
    • Alpha
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Woodhull
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Ophiem
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Ophiem is located in Henry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ophiem
    • Lynn Center
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Bishop Hill
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Andover
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Galva
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Orion
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Cambridge
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Osco
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Morristown
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Morristown is located in Henry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Morristown
    • Kewanee
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
  • McDonough County
    • Prairie City
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Prairie City is located in McDonough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 344 people
  • Mercer County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Soperville, with the one closest to Soperville listed first.
    • North Henderson
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Alexis
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • New Windsor
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • New Windsor is located in Mercer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Windsor
    • Windsor
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Windsor is located in Mercer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Windsor
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 760 people
    • Norwood
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Norwood is located in Mercer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Norwood
    • Burgess
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Burgess is located in Mercer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burgess
    • Griffin
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Griffin is located in Mercer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Griffin
    • Viola
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Gilchrist
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Gilchrist is located in Mercer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gilchrist
    • Shale City
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Shale City is located in Mercer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shale City
    • Sunbeam
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Sunbeam is located in Mercer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunbeam
    • Matherville
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Peoria County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Soperville, with the one closest to Soperville listed first.
    • Elmore
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Elmore is located in Peoria County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elmore
    • Laura
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Elmwood
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Brimfield
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Monica
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Monica is located in Peoria County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monica
  • Rock Island County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Soperville, with the one closest to Soperville listed first.
    • Reynolds
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Coyne Center
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Coyne Center is located in Rock Island County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coyne Center
    • Oak Grove
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Oak Grove is located in Rock Island County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 585 people
    • Taylor Ridge
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Coal Valley
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
  • Stark County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Soperville, with the one closest to Soperville listed first.
    • La Fayette
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • West Jersey
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • West Jersey is located in Stark County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Jersey
    • Toulon
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
  • Warren County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Soperville, with the one closest to Soperville listed first.
    • Shanghai City
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Shanghai City is located in Warren County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shanghai City
    • Utah
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Utah is located in Warren County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Utah
    • Surrey
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Surrey is located in Warren County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Surrey
    • Cameron
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Gerlaw
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Monmouth
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Eleanor
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Eleanor is located in Warren County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eleanor
    • Berwick
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Little York
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Kirkwood
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Roseville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Smithshire
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Soperville ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Soperville.

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

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

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

  • Oak Lawn Memorial Gardens
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
  • Soperville Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
  • Henderson Grove Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
  • Lewis Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
  • State of Illinois Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for State of Illinois Cemetery
    • The State of Illinois Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Galesburg Research Cemetery
  • Gum Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
  • Miles Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Henderson Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Rice - Blue Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • Hope Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Fuller Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Memorial Park Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Memorial Park Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Memorial Park Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the west of Galesburg.
    • The Memorial Park Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Galesburg Memorial Park Cemetery
    • Memorial Cemetery
    • Memorial Park
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #106863 <2>
  • Continue List   (279 more) ...
    • Linwood Cemetery
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Linwood Cemetery
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Linwood Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the west of Galesburg.
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #106629 <2>
    • Brookside Cemetery
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • East Linwood Cemetery
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)

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

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

  • Henderson
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Galesburg
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Utah
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Utah is located in Warren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Utah
  • Wataga
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Ontario
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Ontario is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ontario
  • North Henderson
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Rio
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Coldbrook
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Coldbrook is located in Warren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coldbrook
  • Surrey
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Surrey is located in Warren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Surrey
  • Saluda
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Saluda is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saluda
  • Knoxville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Knox
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Knox is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knox
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Alexis
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Cameron
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Oneida
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)

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

Newspapers Published in Soperville ...

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 213 newspapers that have been published in the area around Soperville.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Soperville, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Soperville.

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 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 Soperville:

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