RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Illinois >> Kendall County >> Yorkville >> Genealogy HelperIndex...

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 Yorkville (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 Yorkville. 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 Yorkville ...

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.

In past government published Postal Guides, Yorkville was referred to as Yorkville Courthouse.

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

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.

For more information about how community names might have been affected by the Board of Geographic Names (BGN), see our page about Placename Rules.

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 northwest 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 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 west 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.

Yorkville is located in Kendall County and is the County Seat.

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 Kendall County: DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, La Salle & Will.

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

  • Kendall County     (The home county of Yorkville)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Yorkville, with the one closest to Yorkville listed first.
    • Bristol
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Oswego
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Plano
      (4 miles [6.4 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>
    • Boulder Hill
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Boulder Hill is located in Kendall County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boulder Hill
    • Montgomery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Little Rock
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Little Rock is located in Kendall County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Rock
    • Millbrook
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Plattville
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Plattville is located in Kendall County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plattville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 257 people
    • Newark
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Lisbon
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
      • Lisbon is located in Kendall County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lisbon
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 310 people
  • Cook County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Yorkville, with the one closest to Yorkville listed first.
    • Lemont
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Burr Ridge
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Hanover Park
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Indian Head Park
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • 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
    • Streamwood
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Western Springs
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Willow Springs
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Countryside
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
    • Hodgkins
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
    • Orland Park
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
  • DeKalb County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Yorkville, with the one closest to Yorkville listed first.
    • Sandwich
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Hinckley
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Franks
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • Franks is located in DeKalb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Franks
    • Somonauk
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Waterman
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Cortland
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Elva
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Elva is located in DeKalb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elva
    • Shabbona Grove
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Shabbona Grove is located in DeKalb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shabbona Grove
    • Shabbona
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • De Kalb
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Coltonville ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Coltonville is located in DeKalb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coltonville
    • Sycamore
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Sycamore is located in DeKalb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sycamore
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 18,317 people
  • DuPage County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Yorkville, with the one closest to Yorkville listed first.
    • Eola
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Naperville
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Warrenville
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • West Chicago
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
      • West Chicago is located in DuPage County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Chicago
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 26,593 people
    • Ingalton
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Ingalton is located in DuPage County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ingalton
    • Lisle
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Lisle is located in DuPage County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lisle
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 23,153 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lisle <1>
    • Winfield
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Woodridge
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Wayne
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Wheaton
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Carol Stream
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Darien
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
  • Grundy County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Yorkville, with the one closest to Yorkville listed first.
    • Nettle Creek
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Nettle Creek is located in Grundy County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nettle Creek
    • Minooka
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Sand Ridge
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Sand Ridge is located in Grundy County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sand Ridge
    • Channahon
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Morris
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Claypool
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Claypool is located in Grundy County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Claypool
    • Gaslight Village
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Gaslight Village is located in Grundy County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gaslight Village
    • Carbon Hill
      (26 miles [41.8 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
    • Coal City
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Diamond
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Wauponsee
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Wauponsee is located in Grundy County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wauponsee
    • Centerville ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Centerville is located in Grundy County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centerville
  • Kane County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Yorkville, with the one closest to Yorkville listed first.
    • Sugar Grove
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Big Rock
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Aurora
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • North Aurora
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
      • North Aurora is located in Kane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Aurora
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 18,144 people
    • Kaneville
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Mooseheart
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Batavia
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Elburn
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Geneva
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Bonnie
      (18 miles [29 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
    • Campton Hills
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • 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>
    • Maple Park
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
  • La Salle County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Yorkville, with the one closest to Yorkville listed first.
    • Millington
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Sheridan
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Leland
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Serena
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Stavanger
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Stavanger is located in La Salle County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stavanger
    • Baker
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Baker is located in La Salle County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baker
    • Blakes
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Blakes is located in La Salle County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blakes
    • Wedron
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Earlville
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Seneca
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Seneca is located in La Salle County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seneca
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,217 people
      • Seneca has also been known as:
      • Crotty
      • Seneca village
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Seneca <1>
    • Dayton
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Dayton is located in La Salle County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dayton
    • Prairie Center
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Prairie Center is located in La Salle County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Center
  • Lee County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Yorkville, with the one closest to Yorkville listed first.
    • East Paw Paw
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • East Paw Paw is located in Lee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Paw Paw
    • Radley
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Radley is located in Lee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Radley
    • Lee
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Paw Paw
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
  • Will County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Yorkville, with the one closest to Yorkville listed first.
    • Normantown
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
      • Normantown is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Normantown
    • Plainfield
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Walker
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Walker is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walker
    • Summerfield
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Summerfield is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summerfield
    • Shorewood
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Crystal Lawns
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Crystal Lawns is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crystal Lawns
    • Romeoville
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Bloomfield Village
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Bloomfield Village is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bloomfield Village
    • Bolingbrook
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Crest Hill
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Winston Village
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
      • Winston Village is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winston Village
    • Colonial Village
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Colonial Village is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colonial Village

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

Cemeteries Near Yorkville ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Yorkville.

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

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

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

  • Elmwood Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Oak Grove Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • St. Patrick's Catholic Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • Cowdrey Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Pavilion Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pavilion Cemetery
    • The Pavilion Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Pavillion Cemetery
  • Doud Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Griswold Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Cross Lutheran Church Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Jericho Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Oswego Twp. Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Pearce Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (328 more) ...
    • Wormley Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Keck Memorial Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Plano Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)

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 Yorkville had a population of 375 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Yorkville had a population of 21,160 people.

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

  • Bristol
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • Fox
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Fox is located in Kendall County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox
  • Pavillion
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Pavillion is located in Kendall County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pavillion
  • Oswego
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Plano
    (4 miles [6.4 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>
  • Sugar Grove
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Montgomery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Millbrook
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Little Rock
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Little Rock is located in Kendall County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Rock
  • Big Rock
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Plattville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Plattville is located in Kendall County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plattville
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 257 people
  • Aurora
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Sandwich
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Millington
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Normantown
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
      • Normantown is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Normantown

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Yorkville ...

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 119 newspapers that have been published in the area around Yorkville.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Yorkville. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Yorkville and those printed in the larger area surrounding Yorkville.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 15 miles [24.1 km]<4> of Yorkville.

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 helpful 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 Yorkville:

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