RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Kansas >> Osborne County >> Forney >> 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 Forney (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 Forney. 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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and 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.

Forney is located in Osborne 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 Osborne County: Ellis, Jewell, Lincoln, Mitchell, Rooks, Russell & Smith.

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

  • Osborne County     (The home county of Forney)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Forney, with the one closest to Forney listed first.
    • Osborne
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Osborne is located in Osborne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Osborne
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,280 people
      • Osborne has also been known as:
      • Peru
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Osborne <1>
    • Downs
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Bloomington
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Bloomington is located in Osborne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bloomington
    • Portis
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
      • Portis is located in Osborne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Portis
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 92 people
    • Alton
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Alton is located in Osborne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 92 people
    • Natoma
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Jewell County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Forney, with the one closest to Forney listed first.
    • Esbon
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Jewell
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Jewell is located in Jewell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jewell
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 396 people
  • Lincoln County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Forney, with the one closest to Forney listed first.
    • Denmark
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Denmark is located in Lincoln County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Denmark
    • Sylvan Grove
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Sylvan Grove is located in Lincoln County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sylvan Grove
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 269 people
      • Sylvan Grove has also been known as:
      • Sylvan Grove Station
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sylvan Grove <1>
  • Mitchell County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Forney, with the one closest to Forney listed first.
    • Tipton
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Cawker City
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Blue Hill
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Blue Hill is located in Mitchell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blue Hill
    • Glen Elder
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Hunter
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Beloit
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
  • Rooks County
    • Woodston
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Woodston is located in Rooks County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodston
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 126 people
      • Woodston has also been known as:
      • Woodston Saw
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Woodston <1>
  • Russell County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Forney, with the one closest to Forney listed first.
    • Luray
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Luray is located in Russell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Luray
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 182 people
    • Waldo
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Waldo is located in Russell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waldo
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 29 people
      • Former name for Waldo:
      • Pleasant Run
    • Lucas
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Paradise
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Paradise is located in Russell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paradise
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 48 people
  • Smith County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Forney, with the one closest to Forney listed first.
    • Dispatch
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Dispatch is located in Smith County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dispatch
    • Harlan
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Harlan is located in Smith County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harlan
    • Gaylord
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Cedar
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Cedar is located in Smith County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 13 people
    • Bellaire
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Bellaire is located in Smith County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bellaire
    • Smith Center
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Lebanon
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Claudell
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Claudell is located in Smith County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Claudell
    • Athol
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Athol is located in Smith County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Athol
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 40 people

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

Cemeteries Near Forney ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Forney.

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

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

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

  • Baker Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baker Cemetery
    • The Baker Cemetery has also been known as:
    • South Solomon Cemetery
  • Iowa Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • St. Aloysius Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Corinth Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Osborne Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Bethany Center Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Zimmerman Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Lutheran Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Downs Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Bristow Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • St. Boniface Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Oakdale Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (105 more) ...
    • Rose Valley Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Fairview Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Bloomington Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 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.<2>

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

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

  • Corinth
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Corinth is located in Osborne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Corinth
  • Osborne
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Osborne is located in Osborne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Osborne
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,280 people
    • Osborne has also been known as:
    • Peru
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Osborne <1>
  • Downs
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Tipton
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Bloomington
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Bloomington is located in Osborne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bloomington
  • Portis
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Portis is located in Osborne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Portis
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 92 people
  • Cawker City
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Covert
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Covert is located in Osborne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Covert
  • Blue Hill
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Blue Hill is located in Mitchell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blue Hill
  • Harlan
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Harlan is located in Smith County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harlan
  • Vincent
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Vincent is located in Osborne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vincent
  • Cheyenne
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Cheyenne is located in Osborne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cheyenne
    • Cheyenne has also been known as:
    • Cheyenne City
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Glen Elder
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Alton
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Alton is located in Osborne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 92 people
    • Gaylord
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)

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

Newspapers Published in Forney ...

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 40 newspapers that have been published in the area around Forney.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Forney, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Forney.

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 professional and volunteer 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 Forney:

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 Forney, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Forney) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.