RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Kansas >> Brown County >> Mercier >> 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 Mercier (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 Mercier. 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 Mercier ...

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.

Another variation: German Town.

You might be interested in other communities that are also named Mercier. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Mercier.

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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals 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.

Mercier is located in Brown 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 Brown County: Atchison, Doniphan, Jackson, Nemaha & Richardson (NE).

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

  • Brown County     (The home county of Mercier)
  • Atchison County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mercier, with the one closest to Mercier listed first.
    • Muscotah
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Huron
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Effingham
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Arrington
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Lancaster
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Lancaster is located in Atchison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lancaster
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 282 people
    • Monrovia
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Farmington
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Goodintent ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Goodintent is located in Atchison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodintent
    • Cummings
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Cummings is located in Atchison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cummings
    • Atchison
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
  • Doniphan County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mercier, with the one closest to Mercier listed first.
    • Purcell
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Leona
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • Leona is located in Doniphan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leona
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 50 people
    • Denton
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Severance
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Highland
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Bendena
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Moray
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Moray is located in Doniphan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moray
    • Fanning
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Fanning is located in Doniphan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fanning
    • Iowa Point
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Sparks
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Sparks is located in Doniphan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sparks
    • White Cloud
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Brenner
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
  • Jackson County
  • Jefferson County
  • Nemaha County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mercier, with the one closest to Mercier listed first.
    • Granada
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Wetmore
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Capioma
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Woodlawn
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Sabetha
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Goff
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Goff is located in Nemaha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goff
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 117 people
    • Berwick
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Oneida
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Kelly
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Corning
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • America City
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • America City is located in Nemaha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for America City
    • Bern
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Pottawatomie County
  • Holt County (MO)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mercier, with the one closest to Mercier listed first.
    • Big Lake
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Fortescue
      (28 miles [45.1 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
    • Forest City
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Forbes
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Richardson County (NE)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mercier, with the one closest to Mercier listed first.
    • Preston
      (23 miles [37 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
    • Falls City
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Rulo
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Rulo is located in Richardson County (NE)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rulo
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 159 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rulo <1>
    • Salem
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Straussville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Nim City
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Nim City is located in Richardson County (NE)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nim City

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

Cemeteries Near Mercier ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Mercier.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Mercier, with the one closest to Mercier 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>

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

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

  • Baker ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Horton
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Powhattan
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Powhattan is located in Brown County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Powhattan
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 72 people
  • Willis
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Kennekuk
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Kennekuk is located in Atchison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kennekuk
  • Whiting
    (8 miles [12.9 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
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Everest
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Hiawatha
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Granada
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Muscotah
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • Fairview
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (19 more) ...
    • Fidelity
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Fidelity is located in Brown County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fidelity
    • Wetmore
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Robinson
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)

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

Newspapers Published in Mercier ...

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 94 newspapers that have been published in the area around Mercier.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Mercier, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Mercier.

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 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 Mercier:

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 '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- Mercier) 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 Mercier, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.