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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 Clifton (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 Clifton. 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 Clifton ...

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.

Clifton has also been known as: West Clifton.

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.

A Few Details for Clifton ...

While it's still very early in our research, we found that:

  • Clifton was founded in 1870.
  • It was incorporated in 1884.

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.

Clifton is primarily located in Washington County. A portion of Clifton extends into Clay 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 Washington County: Clay, Cloud, Marshall, Republic, Riley, Gage (NE), Jefferson (NE) & Thayer (NE).

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

  • Washington County     (The home county of Clifton)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Clifton, with the one closest to Clifton listed first.
    • Palmer
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Brantford
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Brantford. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brantford
      • Brantford is located in Washington County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Brantford
      • From Clifton to Brantford
    • Linn
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Kimeo
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Kimeo. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kimeo
      • Kimeo is located in Washington County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Kimeo
      • From Clifton to Kimeo
    • Haddam
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Haddam have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haddam
      • Haddam is located in Washington County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 97 people
      • Haddam has also been known as:
      • Haddam City
      • West Haddam
    • Morrowville
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Greenleaf
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Greenleaf have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenleaf
      • Greenleaf is located in Washington County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 303 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Greenleaf <2>
    • Chepstow
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Chepstow. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chepstow
      • Chepstow is located in Washington County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Chepstow
      • From Clifton to Chepstow
    • Blocker ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Blocker. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blocker
      • Blocker is located in Washington County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Blocker
      • From Clifton to Blocker
    • Washington
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Barnes
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Mahaska
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mahaska have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mahaska
      • Mahaska is located in Washington County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 77 people
  • Clay County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Clifton, with the one closest to Clifton listed first.
    • Vining
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Vining have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vining
      • Vining is located in Clay County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 42 people
    • Garfield Center
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Morganville
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Oscar ‑ Historic
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oscar have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oscar
      • Oscar is located in Clay County
    • Browndale
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Browndale. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Browndale
      • Browndale is located in Clay County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Browndale
      • From Clifton to Browndale
    • Idana
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Idana. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Idana
      • Idana is located in Clay County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Idana
      • From Clifton to Idana
    • Clay Center
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Green
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Broughton
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Broughton. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Broughton
      • Broughton is located in Clay County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Broughton
      • From Clifton to Broughton
    • Ladysmith
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Ladysmith. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ladysmith
      • Ladysmith is located in Clay County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Ladysmith
      • From Clifton to Ladysmith
    • Oak Hill
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Longford
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
  • Cloud County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Clifton, with the one closest to Clifton listed first.
    • Clyde
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clyde have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clyde
      • Clyde is located in Cloud County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 647 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Clyde <2>
    • Saint Joseph
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Ames
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Rice
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Aurora
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Aurora have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aurora
      • Aurora is located in Cloud County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 55 people
    • Huscher
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Miltonvale
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Cook
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Cook. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cook
      • Cook is located in Cloud County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Cook
      • From Clifton to Cook
    • Concordia
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Yuma
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Yuma. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yuma
      • Yuma is located in Cloud County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Yuma
      • From Clifton to Yuma
    • Macyville ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Macyville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Macyville
      • Macyville is located in Cloud County
  • Marshall County
  • Ottawa County
    • Lamar
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Lamar. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lamar
      • Lamar is located in Ottawa County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Lamar
      • From Clifton to Lamar
  • Republic County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Clifton, with the one closest to Clifton listed first.
    • Agenda
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Agenda have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Agenda
      • Agenda is located in Republic County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 64 people
    • Cuba
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cuba have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cuba
      • Cuba is located in Republic County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 141 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cuba <2>
    • Belleville
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Belleville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belleville
      • Belleville is located in Republic County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,841 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Belleville <2>
    • Munden
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Norway
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Norway have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Norway
      • Norway is located in Republic County
    • Narka
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
  • Riley County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Clifton, with the one closest to Clifton listed first.
    • May Day
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Lasita ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lasita have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lasita
      • Lasita is located in Riley County
    • Winkler
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Winkler. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winkler
      • Winkler is located in Riley County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Winkler
      • From Clifton to Winkler
    • Bala
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Leonardville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Walsburg
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Walsburg. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walsburg
      • Walsburg is located in Riley County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Walsburg
      • From Clifton to Walsburg
    • Randolph
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Riley
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Clifton ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Clifton.

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 Clifton covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Clifton, with the one closest to Clifton 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.<6>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Clifton had a population of 622 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Clifton had a population of 506 people.

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

  • Vining
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Vining have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vining
    • Vining is located in Clay County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 42 people
  • Clyde
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clyde have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clyde
    • Clyde is located in Cloud County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 647 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Clyde <2>
  • Saint Joseph
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Morganville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Palmer
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Ames
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Brantford
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Brantford. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brantford
    • Brantford is located in Washington County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Brantford
    • From Clifton to Brantford
  • Strawberry
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Strawberry have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Strawberry
    • Strawberry is located in Washington County
  • Linn
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Agenda
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Agenda have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Agenda
    • Agenda is located in Republic County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 64 people
  • Idana
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Idana. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Idana
    • Idana is located in Clay County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Idana
    • From Clifton to Idana
  • Rice
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Aurora
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Aurora have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aurora
      • Aurora is located in Cloud County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 55 people
    • Clay Center
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Kimeo
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Kimeo. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kimeo
      • Kimeo is located in Washington County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Kimeo
      • From Clifton to Kimeo

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

Newspapers Published in Clifton ...

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 107 newspapers that have been published in the area around Clifton.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Clifton, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Clifton.

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 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 Clifton:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Clifton. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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.
<4>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.
<5>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Clifton) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Clifton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.5679, Longitude: -97.2791    
<6>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 Clifton, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025