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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 Walker (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 Walker. 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 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.

Walker is located in Will 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 Will County: Cook, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall & Lake (IN).

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

  • Will County     (The home county of Walker)
  • Cook County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Walker, with the one closest to Walker listed first.
    • Lemont
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Burr Ridge
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Orland Park
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Willow Springs
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Orland Hills
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Palos Park
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Indian Head Park
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Indian Head Park is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Head Park
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,680 people
    • Hickory Hills
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Palos Hills
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Countryside
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Hodgkins
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Justice
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
  • DeKalb County
  • DuPage County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Walker, with the one closest to Walker listed first.
    • Naperville
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Eola
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Woodridge
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Warrenville
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Tedens ‑ Historic
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Tedens is located in DuPage County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tedens
    • Darien
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Lisle
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Downers Grove
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Willowbrook
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • West Chicago
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • West Chicago is located in DuPage County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Chicago
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 26,593 people
    • Clarendon Hills
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Westmont
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Grundy County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Walker, with the one closest to Walker listed first.
    • Minooka
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Channahon
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Sand Ridge
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Morris
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Claypool
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Gaslight Village
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Gaslight Village is located in Grundy County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gaslight Village
    • Carbon Hill
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Carbon Hill is located in Grundy County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carbon Hill
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 334 people
    • Diamond
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Nettle Creek
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Coal City
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Centerville ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Centerville is located in Grundy County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centerville
    • Central City
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Central City is located in Grundy County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Central City
  • Kane County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Walker, with the one closest to Walker listed first.
    • Aurora
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • North Aurora
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • North Aurora is located in Kane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Aurora
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 18,144 people
    • Mooseheart
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Sugar Grove
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Batavia
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Geneva
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Big Rock
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Saint Charles
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Kaneville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Bonnie
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Bonnie is located in Kane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bonnie
      • Bonnie has also been known as:
      • Bonnie Valley
    • Elburn
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Campton Hills
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Campton Hills is located in Kane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Campton Hills
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 11,063 people
      • Campton Hills has also been known as:
      • Campton Hills village
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Campton Hills <1>
  • Kankakee County
  • Kendall County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Walker, with the one closest to Walker listed first.
    • Oswego
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Boulder Hill
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Boulder Hill is located in Kendall County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boulder Hill
    • Montgomery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Plattville
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Plattville is located in Kendall County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plattville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 257 people
    • Bristol
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Yorkville
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Plano
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Plano is located in Kendall County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plano
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 11,879 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Plano <1>
    • Lisbon
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Millbrook
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Little Rock
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Little Rock is located in Kendall County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Rock
    • Newark
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
  • La Salle County

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

Cemeteries Near Walker ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Walker.

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

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

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

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Walker had railroad service and no post office.

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

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

Newspapers Published in Walker ...

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 26 newspapers that have been published in the area around Walker.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Walker, there are papers which were published within 8 miles [12.9 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Walker.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin 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 Walker:

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>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- Walker) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Walker, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.