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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 Hiawatha (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 Hiawatha. 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 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.

Hiawatha is located in Brown County and is the County Seat.

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 Brown County: Atchison, Doniphan, Jackson, Nemaha & Richardson (NE).

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

  • Brown County     (The home county of Hiawatha)
  • Atchison County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hiawatha, with the one closest to Hiawatha listed first.
    • Huron
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Muscotah
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Lancaster
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Lancaster is located in Atchison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lancaster
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 282 people
    • Effingham
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Goodintent ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Goodintent is located in Atchison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodintent
    • Monrovia
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Farmington
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Arrington
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Atchison
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Cummings
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Cummings is located in Atchison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cummings
  • Doniphan County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hiawatha, with the one closest to Hiawatha listed first.
    • Leona
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Leona is located in Doniphan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leona
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 50 people
    • Highland
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • White Cloud
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Purcell
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Iowa Point
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Severance
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Denton
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Sparks
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Sparks is located in Doniphan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sparks
    • Fanning
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
      • Fanning is located in Doniphan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fanning
    • Bendena
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Moray
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Moray is located in Doniphan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moray
    • Brenner
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Troy
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
  • Jackson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hiawatha, with the one closest to Hiawatha listed first.
    • Whiting
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Whiting is located in Jackson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whiting
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 183 people
    • Netawaka
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Larkinburg
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Holton
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Circleville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Jefferson County
  • Nemaha County
  • Andrew County (MO)
  • Holt County (MO)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hiawatha, with the one closest to Hiawatha listed first.
    • Fortescue
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Fortescue is located in Holt County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fortescue
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 28 people
    • Big Lake
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Forest City
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Bigelow
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Bigelow is located in Holt County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bigelow
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 23 people
    • Oregon
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Forbes
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Craig
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Mound City
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Corning
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • New Point
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Nemaha County (NE)
  • Pawnee County (NE)
  • Richardson County (NE)

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

Cemeteries Near Hiawatha ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Hiawatha.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Hiawatha, with the one closest to Hiawatha 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.<4>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Hiawatha had a population of 2,486 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Hiawatha had a population of 3,091 people.

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

  • Padonia
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Robinson
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Hamlin
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Hamlin is located in Brown County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hamlin
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 35 people
    • Hamlin has also been known as:
    • Hamilton
  • Baker ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Reserve
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Powhattan
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Powhattan is located in Brown County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Powhattan
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 72 people
  • Willis
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Morrill
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Morrill is located in Brown County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Morrill
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 225 people
  • Fairview
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Horton
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
  • Leona
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Leona is located in Doniphan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leona
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 50 people
  • Preston
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Preston is located in Richardson County (NE)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Preston
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 26 people
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Everest
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Fidelity
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Fidelity is located in Brown County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fidelity
    • Kennekuk
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Kennekuk is located in Atchison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kennekuk

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Hiawatha ...

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 138 newspapers that have been published in the area around Hiawatha.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

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

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 Hiawatha:

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>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.
<3>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- Hiawatha) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<4>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 Hiawatha, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.