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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 Lake City (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 Lake City. 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 Lake City ...

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.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Lake City: Lk. City

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 northwest 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 north.

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 north 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.

Lake City is located in Barber 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 Barber County: Comanche, Harper, Kingman, Kiowa, Pratt, Alfalfa (OK) & Woods (OK).

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

  • Barber County     (The home county of Lake City)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lake City, with the one closest to Lake City listed first.
    • Forest City ‑ Historic
      (5 miles [8 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
    • Sun City
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • 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>
    • Mingona
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • 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
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Mingona
      • From Lake City to Mingona
    • Elm Mills
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • 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
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
      • 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
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Deerhead
      • From Lake City to Deerhead
    • Medicine Lodge
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Isabel
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • 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
    • Pixley
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Pixley. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pixley
      • Pixley is located in Barber County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Pixley
      • From Lake City to Pixley
    • Gerlane
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Gerlane. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gerlane
      • Gerlane is located in Barber County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Gerlane
      • From Lake City to Gerlane
    • Aetna ‑ Historic
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Eldred ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Eldred. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eldred
      • Eldred is located in Barber County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Eldred
      • From Lake City to Eldred
    • Sharon
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sharon have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sharon
      • Sharon is located in Barber County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 142 people
      • Former name for Sharon:
      • Bible Valley
  • Comanche County
  • Harper County
    • Crisfield
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Crisfield. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crisfield
      • Crisfield is located in Harper County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Crisfield
      • From Lake City to Crisfield
  • Kingman County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lake City, with the one closest to Lake City listed first.
    • Nashville
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Cunningham
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cunningham have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cunningham
      • Cunningham is located in Kingman County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 428 people
    • Willowdale
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
    • Zenda
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Zenda have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zenda
      • Zenda is located in Kingman County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 76 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Zenda <2>
  • Kiowa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lake City, with the one closest to Lake City listed first.
    • Belvidere
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Wellsford
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Haviland
      (23 miles [37 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
      (27 miles [43.5 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
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Brenham
      • From Lake City to Brenham
  • Pratt County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lake City, with the one closest to Lake City listed first.
    • Coats
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
      • 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
    • Sawyer
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Cullison
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Pratt
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Cairo
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Iuka
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • 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
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • 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
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Natrona
      • From Lake City to Natrona
    • Byers
      (30 miles [48.3 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
  • Woods County (OK)
    • Winchester
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Winchester. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winchester
      • Winchester is located in Woods County (OK)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Winchester
      • From Lake City to Winchester

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

Cemeteries Near Lake City ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Lake City.

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

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

  • Sunnyside Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • 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.
  • Chinn Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • 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.
  • John Jesse Gravesite
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • East Slope Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • 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.
  • Coats Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • 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.
  • Highland Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Highland Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Highland Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jenkins Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • 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.
  • Lodi Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lodi Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lodi Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Ellenwood Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ellenwood Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ellenwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Pleasant View Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pleasant View Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pleasant View Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Ruddick Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • 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.
  • Belvidere Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • 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.
  • Continue List   (40 more) ...

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 Lake City had a population of 162 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service.

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

  • Sun City
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • 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>
  • Mingona
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • 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
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Mingona
    • From Lake City to Mingona
  • Deerhead
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • 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
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Deerhead
    • From Lake City to Deerhead
  • Elm Mills
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • 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
  • Coats
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • 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
  • Sawyer
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Springvale
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • 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
  • Medicine Lodge
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
  • Belvidere
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Isabel
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • 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
  • Cullison
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
  • Aetna ‑ Historic
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Pixley
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Pixley. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pixley
      • Pixley is located in Barber County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Pixley
      • From Lake City to Pixley
    • Pratt
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Eldred ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Eldred. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eldred
      • Eldred is located in Barber County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Eldred
      • From Lake City to Eldred

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

Newspapers Published in Lake City ...

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 80 newspapers that have been published in the area around Lake City.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Lake City, 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 Lake City.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin with 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 Lake City:

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

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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.
<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 Lake City, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<5>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 from Point A (ie- Lake City) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Lake City. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.3547, Longitude: -98.8204    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025