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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 Mapleton (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 Mapleton. 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 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.

Mapleton is located in Bourbon 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 Bourbon County: Allen, Anderson, Crawford, Linn, Neosho & Vernon (MO).

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

  • Bourbon County     (The home county of Mapleton)
  • Allen County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mapleton, with the one closest to Mapleton listed first.
    • Bayard
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Mildred
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Mildred is located in Allen County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mildred
      • Estimated population in 2019: 23 people
    • Moran
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Elsmore
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Savonburg
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Savonburg is located in Allen County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Savonburg
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 103 people
    • La Harpe
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Gas
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Carlyle
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Iola
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Bassett
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Bassett is located in Allen County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bassett
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 23 people
    • Leanna
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Anderson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mapleton, with the one closest to Mapleton listed first.
    • Selma
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Kincaid
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Kincaid is located in Anderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kincaid
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 119 people
    • Bush City
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Bush City is located in Anderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bush City
    • Lone Elm
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Welda
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Garnett
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Colony
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Colony is located in Anderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colony
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 424 people
    • Greeley
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Mont Ida
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Scipio
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Crawford County
  • Linn County
  • Miami County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mapleton, with the one closest to Mapleton listed first.
    • Fontana
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Fontana is located in Miami County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fontana
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 242 people
    • Jingo
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
  • Neosho County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mapleton, with the one closest to Mapleton listed first.
    • Stark
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Stark is located in Neosho County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stark
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 66 people
    • Odense
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Bates County (MO)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mapleton, with the one closest to Mapleton listed first.
    • Hume
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
      • Hume is located in Bates County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hume
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 315 people
    • Worland
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Foster
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Amoret
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • New Home
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Nyhart
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Rich Hill
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Amsterdam
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Vernon County (MO)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mapleton, with the one closest to Mapleton listed first.
    • Stotesbury
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
      • Stotesbury is located in Vernon County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stotesbury
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 17 people
    • Richards
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
      • Richards is located in Vernon County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richards
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 94 people
    • Metz
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Deerfield
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Deerfield is located in Vernon County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deerfield
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 77 people
    • Temple ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Temple is located in Vernon County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Temple
    • Horton
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Horton is located in Vernon County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horton
    • Moundville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Mapleton ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Mapleton.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Mapleton, with the one closest to Mapleton 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.<3>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Mapleton had a population of 175 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Mapleton had a population of 80 people.

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

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Mapleton ...

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 71 newspapers that have been published in the area around Mapleton.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Mapleton. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Mapleton and those printed in the larger area surrounding Mapleton.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<4> of Mapleton.

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 Mapleton:

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>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 Mapleton, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Mapleton) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.