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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

So far, we found very little information about Aetna. The little that we've found leads us believe that the community is historic.<1>

We've added Aetna to our Gazetteer with the hope that we can develop more information. If you can help us with Aetna, please Contact Us.

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 Aetna (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 Aetna. 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 Aetna ...

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.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might have occurred.

Another variation: Aetha.

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.

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.

Although our information shows that the community of Aetna is historic, it would have been located within present day Barber County.

To see how the shape of Kansas' counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Barber County: Comanche, Harper, Kingman, Kiowa, Pratt, Alfalfa (OK) & Woods (OK).

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

  • Barber County     (The home county of Aetna)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Aetna, with the one closest to Aetna listed first.
    • Eldred ‑ Historic
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Eldred have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eldred
      • Eldred is located in Barber County
    • Hardtner
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Sun City
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sun City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sun City
      • Sun City is located in Barber County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 47 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sun City <3>
    • Forest City ‑ Historic
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Forest City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest City
      • Forest City is located in Barber County
    • Lake City
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake City
      • Lake City is located in Barber County
    • Stubbs
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stubbs
      • Stubbs is located in Barber County
    • Medicine Lodge
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Kiowa
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kiowa
      • Kiowa is located in Barber County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 917 people
      • Kiowa has also been known as:
      • Kiowa
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Kiowa <3>
    • Elm Mills
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elm Mills have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elm Mills
      • Elm Mills is located in Barber County
    • Pixley
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pixley have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pixley
      • Pixley is located in Barber County
  • Comanche County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Aetna, with the one closest to Aetna listed first.
    • Buttermilk
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buttermilk
      • Buttermilk is located in Comanche County
    • Wilmore
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilmore
      • Wilmore is located in Comanche County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 47 people
    • Coldwater
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Protection
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
  • Kiowa County
    • Belvidere
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belvidere
      • Belvidere is located in Kiowa County
  • Pratt County
    • Coats
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Coats have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coats
      • Coats is located in Pratt County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 75 people
  • Harper County (OK)
    • Charleston ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Charleston. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charleston
      • Charleston is located in Harper County (OK)
  • Woods County (OK)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Aetna, with the one closest to Aetna listed first.
    • Freedom
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Freedom have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freedom
      • Freedom is located in Woods County (OK)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 284 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Freedom <3>
    • Alva
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alva
      • Alva is located in Woods County (OK)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,882 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Alva <3>
    • Capron
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Capron
      • Capron is located in Woods County (OK)
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 23 people
    • Avard
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Avard
      • Avard is located in Woods County (OK)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Aetna ...

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 67 newspapers that have been published in the area around Aetna.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Aetna. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Aetna and those printed in the larger area surrounding Aetna.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<5> of Aetna.

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 Aetna:

Cemeteries Near Aetna ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Aetna.

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.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

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

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

  • Aetna Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • Watt Family Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Watt Family Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Watt Family Cemetery is located 15 miles [24.1 km]<5> to the east of Hardtner.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Watt Family Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2485089 <6>
  • Fritz Family Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Ewing Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Lodi Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lodi Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lodi Cemetery
  • Cowboy Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Whitehorse Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Whitehorse Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Whitehorse Cemetery
  • Preston Hill Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Preston Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Preston Hill Cemetery
  • Fairview Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Hardtner Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
  • Nescatunga Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Nescatunga Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Nescatunga Cemetery
  • Mt. Pleasant Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery
  • Continue List   (31 more) ...
    • Freedom Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Freedom Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Freedom Cemetery
    • Coy Cemetery
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Star Cemetery
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Star Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Star Cemetery

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.

Aetna itself is historic and was described in the Rand McNally Atlas as having a population of 103 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Deerhead
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Deerhead have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deerhead
    • Deerhead is located in Barber County
  • Eldred ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Eldred have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eldred
    • Eldred is located in Barber County
  • Winchester
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Winchester have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winchester
    • Winchester is located in Woods County (OK)
  • Hardtner
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
  • Cora
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cora have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cora
    • Cora is located in Woods County (OK)
  • Lake City
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake City
    • Lake City is located in Barber County
  • Sun City
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sun City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sun City
    • Sun City is located in Barber County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 47 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sun City <3>
  • Wilmore
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilmore
    • Wilmore is located in Comanche County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 47 people
  • Mingona
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mingona have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mingona
    • Mingona is located in Barber County
  • Coldwater
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
  • Belvidere
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belvidere
    • Belvidere is located in Kiowa County
  • Noel
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Noel have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Noel
    • Noel is located in Woods County (OK)
  • Continue List   (8 more) ...
    • Alva
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alva
      • Alva is located in Woods County (OK)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,882 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Alva <3>
    • Medicine Lodge
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Kiowa
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kiowa
      • Kiowa is located in Barber County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 917 people
      • Kiowa has also been known as:
      • Kiowa
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Kiowa <3>

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

The official website for State of Kansas: https://portal.kansas.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Aetna, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<5>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Aetna) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Aetna. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.0859, Longitude: -98.9649    
<6>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.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024