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 Croft (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 Croft. 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.

Croft is located in Pratt 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 Pratt County: Barber, Comanche, Edwards, Kingman, Kiowa, Reno & Stafford.

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

• Pratt County     (The home county of Croft)
  • The following are listed by their distance from Croft, with the one closest to Croft listed first.
  • Coats
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Coats have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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
  • Cullison
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cullison
    • Cullison is located in Pratt County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 100 people
  • Sawyer
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sawyer
    • Sawyer is located in Pratt County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 129 people
  • Pratt
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pratt
    • Pratt is located in Pratt County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,463 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Pratt <2>
  • Byers
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Byers have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Byers
    • Byers is located in Pratt County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 33 people
  • Iuka
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Iuka have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iuka
    • Iuka is located in Pratt County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 156 people
  • Natrona
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Natrona. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Natrona
    • Natrona is located in Pratt County
  • Cairo
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cairo
    • Cairo is located in Pratt County
  • Preston
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Preston
    • Preston is located in Pratt County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 148 people
• Barber County
  • The following are listed by their distance from Croft, with the one closest to Croft listed first.
  • Sun City
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sun City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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 <2>
  • Lake City
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake City
    • Lake City is located in Barber County
  • Elm Mills
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elm Mills have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elm Mills
    • Elm Mills is located in Barber County
  • Deerhead
    (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Deerhead. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deerhead
    • Deerhead is located in Barber County
  • Forest City ‑ Historic
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Forest City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest City
    • Forest City is located in Barber County
  • Mingona
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Mingona. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mingona
    • Mingona is located in Barber County
  • Isabel
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Isabel have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Isabel
    • Isabel is located in Barber County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 80 people
  • Medicine Lodge
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Medicine Lodge
    • Medicine Lodge is located in Barber County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,804 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Medicine Lodge <2>
  • Aetna ‑ Historic
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aetna
    • Aetna is located in Barber County
• Comanche County
  • The following are listed by their distance from Croft, with the one closest to Croft listed first.
  • Wilmore
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilmore
    • Wilmore is located in Comanche County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 47 people
  • Coldwater
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coldwater
    • Coldwater is located in Comanche County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 733 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Coldwater <2>
• Edwards County
  • The following are listed by their distance from Croft, with the one closest to Croft listed first.
  • Trousdale ‑ Historic
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Trousdale have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trousdale
    • Trousdale is located in Edwards County
  • Fellsburg
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Fellsburg. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fellsburg
    • Fellsburg is located in Edwards County
  • Centerview
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centerview
    • Centerview is located in Edwards County
  • Williams ‑ Historic
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Williams have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Williams
    • Williams is located in Edwards County
  • Hodges
    (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Hodges. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hodges
    • Hodges is located in Edwards County
• Kiowa County
  • The following are listed by their distance from Croft, with the one closest to Croft listed first.
  • Belvidere
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belvidere
    • Belvidere is located in Kiowa County
  • Wellsford
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wellsford
    • Wellsford is located in Kiowa County
  • Haviland
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Haviland have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haviland
    • Haviland is located in Kiowa County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 664 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Haviland <2>
  • Brenham ‑ Historic
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Brenham. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brenham
    • Brenham is located in Kiowa County
  • Greensburg
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Greensburg. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greensburg
    • Greensburg is located in Kiowa County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 779 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Greensburg <2>
  • Mullinville
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Mullinville. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mullinville
    • Mullinville is located in Kiowa County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 237 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mullinville <2>

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

Cemeteries Near Croft ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Croft.

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

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

• Wyman Cemetery
  (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wyman Cemetery
• Belvidere Cemetery
  (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Belvidere Cemetery
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Belvidere Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
• Soldier Creek Cemetery
  (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Soldier Creek Cemetery
• Boles Cemetery
  (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Boles Cemetery
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Boles Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
• Chinn Cemetery
  (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Chinn Cemetery
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Chinn Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
• East Slope Cemetery
  (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the East Slope Cemetery
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the East Slope Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
• Jenkins Cemetery
  (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jenkins Cemetery
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Jenkins Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
• Wellsford Cemetery
  (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wellsford Cemetery
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wellsford Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
• Sunnyside Cemetery
  (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sunnyside Cemetery
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sunnyside Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
• Coats Cemetery
  (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Coats Cemetery
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Coats Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
• Sunset Cemetery
  (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sunset Cemetery
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sunset Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
• Haviland Cemetery
  (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Haviland Cemetery
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Haviland Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
• Continue List   (35 more) ...
  • Ruddick Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ruddick Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ruddick Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Providence Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Providence Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Providence Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Powell Twp. Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Powell Twp. Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Powell Twp. Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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>

While we didn't find Croft in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Croft.

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

• Springvale
  (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Springvale have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springvale
  • Springvale is located in Pratt County
  • Springvale has also been known as:
  • Springdale
• Belvidere
  (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belvidere
  • Belvidere is located in Kiowa County
• Wellsford
  (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wellsford
  • Wellsford is located in Kiowa County
• Sun City
  (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sun City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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 <2>
• Coats
  (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Coats have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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
• Haviland
  (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Haviland have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haviland
  • Haviland is located in Kiowa County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 664 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Haviland <2>
• Cullison
  (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cullison
  • Cullison is located in Pratt County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 100 people
• Brenham ‑ Historic
  (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Brenham. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brenham
  • Brenham is located in Kiowa County
• Lake City
  (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake City
  • Lake City is located in Barber County
• Wilmore
  (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilmore
  • Wilmore is located in Comanche County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 47 people
• Elm Mills
  (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elm Mills have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elm Mills
  • Elm Mills is located in Barber County
• Sawyer
  (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sawyer
  • Sawyer is located in Pratt County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 129 people
• Continue List   (13 more) ...
  • Pratt
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pratt
    • Pratt is located in Pratt County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,463 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Pratt <2>
  • Greensburg
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Greensburg. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greensburg
    • Greensburg is located in Kiowa County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 779 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Greensburg <2>
  • Deerhead
    (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Deerhead. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deerhead
    • Deerhead is located in Barber County

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

Newspapers Published in Croft ...

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 91 newspapers that have been published in the area around Croft.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Croft, there are papers which were published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Croft.

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 Croft:

• Websites specific to Kansas
  • Jump to Cyndi's List
  • Jump to Family Search
  • Jump to Genealogy Trails
  • Website for the Kansas Historical Society

• Pages specific to Pratt County
  • Jump to Cyndi's List
  • Jump to Family Search
  • Jump to Genealogy Trails

• Genealogy information for nearby counties
  • Barber County
    • Jump to Cyndi's List
    • Jump to Family Search
    • Jump to Genealogy Trails
  • Comanche County
    • Jump to Cyndi's List
    • Jump to Family Search
    • Jump to Genealogy Trails
  • Edwards County
    • Jump to Cyndi's List
    • Jump to Family Search
    • Jump to Genealogy Trails
  • Kiowa County
    • Jump to Cyndi's List
    • Jump to Family Search
    • Jump to Genealogy Trails

• Cemetery Information and Directories for Kansas
  • Cemetery Junction: Cemeteries of Kansas
  • Cyndi's List
  • Cemeteries of Kansas
  • Cemeteries of Pratt County
  • FamilySearch.org: Cemeteries of Kansas
  • Find-A-Grave: Home Page
  • Interment.net
  • Cemeteries of Kansas
  • Cemeteries of Pratt County

Off-the-Road Links ...

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

The official website for Pratt County: www.prattcounty.org/

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