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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 Montezuma (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 Montezuma. 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 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.

Montezuma is located in Gray 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 Gray County: Finney, Ford, Haskell, Hodgeman & Meade.

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

  • Gray County     (The home county of Montezuma)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Montezuma, with the one closest to Montezuma listed first.
    • Copeland
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Ensign
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ensign
      • Ensign is located in Gray County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 184 people
    • Cimarron
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Ingalls
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ingalls have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ingalls
      • Ingalls is located in Gray County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 284 people
    • Charleston
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charleston
      • Charleston is located in Gray County
  • Clark County
    • Minneola
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Finney County
    • Pierceville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pierceville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pierceville
      • Pierceville is located in Finney County
  • Ford County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Montezuma, with the one closest to Montezuma listed first.
    • Howell
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Howell have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Howell
      • Howell is located in Ford County
    • Dodge City
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Fort Dodge
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Dodge
      • Fort Dodge is located in Ford County
    • Wilroads Gardens
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilroads Gardens
      • Wilroads Gardens is located in Ford County
    • Bloom
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bloom
      • Bloom is located in Ford County
    • Wilroads
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wilroads have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilroads
      • Wilroads is located in Ford County
  • Haskell County
    • Sublette
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
  • Meade County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Montezuma, with the one closest to Montezuma listed first.
    • Fowler
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fowler have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fowler
      • Fowler is located in Meade County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 516 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fowler <1>
    • Meade
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meade
      • Meade is located in Meade County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,519 people
      • Meade has also been known as:
      • Meade City
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Meade <1>
    • Plains
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Plains have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plains
      • Plains is located in Meade County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,021 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Plains <1>
  • Seward County
    • Kismet
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kismet
      • Kismet is located in Seward County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 423 people

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Montezuma ...

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 45 newspapers that have been published in the area around Montezuma.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

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

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we 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 Montezuma:

Cemeteries Near Montezuma ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Montezuma.

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

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

  • Fairview Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fairview Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fairview Cemetery
  • Evans Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Evans Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Evans Cemetery
  • Cave Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Cave Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cave Cemetery
  • Ensign Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ensign Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ensign Cemetery
  • Colusa Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Colusa Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Colusa Cemetery
  • Johnson Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Johnson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Johnson Cemetery
  • Mertilla Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mertilla Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mertilla Cemetery
  • McCauley Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Ingalls - Logan Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
  • Cimarron Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Cimarron Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the northeast of Cimarron.
    • The Cimarron Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Cimarron Twp. Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cimarron Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #939547 <4>
  • Concord Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Concord Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Concord Cemetery
  • Lockhart Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lockhart Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lockhart Cemetery
  • Continue List   (19 more) ...
    • Wilburn Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Wilburn Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<5>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wilburn Cemetery
    • Fowler Cemetery
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fowler Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fowler Cemetery
    • Graceland Cemetery
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Graceland Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the east of Meade.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Graceland Cemetery
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #92561 <4>

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.<6>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Montezuma had a population of 73 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Montezuma had a population of 958 people.

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

  • Ensign
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ensign
    • Ensign is located in Gray County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 184 people
  • Cimarron
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
  • Ingalls
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ingalls have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ingalls
    • Ingalls is located in Gray County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 284 people
  • Missler
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Missler have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Missler
    • Missler is located in Meade County
  • Charleston
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charleston
    • Charleston is located in Gray County
  • Howell
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Howell have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Howell
    • Howell is located in Ford County
  • Fowler
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fowler have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fowler
    • Fowler is located in Meade County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 516 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fowler <1>
  • Meade
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meade
    • Meade is located in Meade County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,519 people
    • Meade has also been known as:
    • Meade City
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Meade <1>
  • Pierceville
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pierceville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pierceville
    • Pierceville is located in Finney County
  • Plains
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Plains have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plains
    • Plains is located in Meade County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,021 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Plains <1>
  • Minneola
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
  • South Dodge
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Dodge have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Dodge
    • South Dodge is located in Ford County
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Dodge City
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Plymell
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Plymell have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plymell
      • Plymell is located in Finney County
    • Mansfield
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mansfield have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mansfield
      • Mansfield is located in Finney County

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

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

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

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 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.
<3>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- Montezuma) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Montezuma. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.5960, Longitude: -100.4428    
<4>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.
<5>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.
<6>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 Montezuma, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024