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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 Courtland (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 Courtland. 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 Courtland ...

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 occur.

Another variation: Cortland.

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

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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.

Courtland is located in Republic County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Republic County: Cloud, Jewell, Washington, Jefferson (NE), Nuckolls (NE) & Thayer (NE).

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

  • Republic County     (The home county of Courtland)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Courtland, with the one closest to Courtland listed first.
    • Scandia
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Sherdahl
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Kackley
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • White Rock
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Norway
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Norway is located in Republic County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Norway
    • Republic
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Belleville
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Munden
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Cuba
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Cuba is located in Republic County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cuba
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 141 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cuba <1>
    • Agenda
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Agenda is located in Republic County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Agenda
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 64 people
    • Narka
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Cloud County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Courtland, with the one closest to Courtland listed first.
    • Oneonta ‑ Historic
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Oneonta is located in Cloud County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oneonta
    • Jamestown
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
      • Jamestown is located in Cloud County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jamestown
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 258 people
    • Yuma
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Concordia
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Macyville ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Macyville is located in Cloud County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Macyville
    • Cook
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Rice
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Huscher
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Simpson
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Ames
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Aurora
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Aurora is located in Cloud County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aurora
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 55 people
    • Clyde
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Jewell County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Courtland, with the one closest to Courtland listed first.
    • Formoso
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Montrose
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Webber
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Randall
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Jewell
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Jewell is located in Jewell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jewell
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 396 people
    • Mankato
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Burr Oak
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
      • Burr Oak is located in Jewell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burr Oak
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 160 people
    • Esbon
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
  • Mitchell County
  • Washington County
  • Nuckolls County (NE)
  • Thayer County (NE)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Courtland, with the one closest to Courtland listed first.
    • Byron
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Chester
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Stoddard ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Stoddard is located in Thayer County (NE)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stoddard
    • Deshler
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Hubbell
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Webster County (NE)
    • Guide Rock
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Courtland ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Courtland.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Courtland, with the one closest to Courtland 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.<2>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Courtland had a population of 267 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Courtland had a population of 258 people.

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

  • Scandia
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Formoso
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Kackley
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Sherdahl
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • White Rock
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Norway
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Norway is located in Republic County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Norway
  • Oneonta ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Oneonta is located in Cloud County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oneonta
  • Republic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Montrose
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Randall
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Jamestown
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Jamestown is located in Cloud County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jamestown
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 258 people
  • Webber
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Belleville
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Warwick
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Warwick is located in Republic County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warwick
    • Jewell
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Jewell is located in Jewell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jewell
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 396 people

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Courtland ...

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 96 newspapers that have been published in the area around Courtland.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Courtland. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Courtland and those printed in the larger area surrounding Courtland.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3> of Courtland.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with 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 Courtland:

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>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 Courtland, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Courtland) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.