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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

Although we found mention of Pontiac during our research, we have little information about it.<1> We believe that Pontiac had a post office at one time. We have done a cursory search and haven't been able to find any evidence that the community still exists..

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 Pontiac (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 Pontiac. 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 northwest 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 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.

Pontiac is located in Butler 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 Butler County: Chase, Cowley, Elk, Greenwood, Harvey, Marion, Sedgwick & Sumner.

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

  • Butler County     (The home county of Pontiac)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Pontiac, with the one closest to Pontiac listed first.
    • Prospect
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Prospect have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prospect
      • Prospect is located in Butler County
    • Rosalia
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • El Dorado
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Leon
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Leon have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leon
      • Leon is located in Butler County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 730 people
      • Leon has also been known as:
      • West Leon
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Leon <3>
    • Keighley
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Keighley have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keighley
      • Keighley is located in Butler County
    • Pickrell Corner
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pickrell Corner have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pickrell Corner
      • Pickrell Corner is located in Butler County
    • Haverhill
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Haverhill have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haverhill
      • Haverhill is located in Butler County
    • De Graff
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for De Graff have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for De Graff
      • De Graff is located in Butler County
    • Hopkins
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hopkins have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hopkins
      • Hopkins is located in Butler County
    • Beaumont
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Cassoday
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cassoday have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cassoday
      • Cassoday is located in Butler County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 126 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cassoday <3>
    • Towanda
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Towanda have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Towanda
      • Towanda is located in Butler County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,446 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Towanda <3>
    • Augusta
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Chase County
    • Matfield Green
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Matfield Green have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Matfield Green
      • Matfield Green is located in Chase County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 42 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Matfield Green <3>
  • Cowley County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Pontiac, with the one closest to Pontiac listed first.
    • Atlanta
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Atlanta have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Atlanta
      • Atlanta is located in Cowley County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 179 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Atlanta <3>
    • Rock
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Greenwood County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Pontiac, with the one closest to Pontiac listed first.
    • Reece
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reece
      • Reece is located in Greenwood County
    • Lapland
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lapland have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lapland
      • Lapland is located in Greenwood County
    • Eureka
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Eureka have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eureka
      • Eureka is located in Greenwood County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,301 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Eureka <3>
    • Piedmont
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Piedmont have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piedmont
      • Piedmont is located in Greenwood County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Piedmont <3>
    • Climax
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Climax have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Climax
      • Climax is located in Greenwood County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 64 people
    • Severy
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Severy
      • Severy is located in Greenwood County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 224 people
  • Harvey County
    • Annelly
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Annelly have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Annelly
      • Annelly is located in Harvey County
  • Marion County
    • Burns
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Burns have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burns
      • Burns is located in Marion County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 204 people
  • Sedgwick County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Pontiac, with the one closest to Pontiac listed first.
    • Greenwich
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Greenwich have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenwich
      • Greenwich is located in Sedgwick County
    • Bel Aire
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bel Aire have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bel Aire
      • Bel Aire is located in Sedgwick County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 8,469 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bel Aire <3>
    • Kechi
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kechi have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kechi
      • Kechi is located in Sedgwick County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,109 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Kechi <3>

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

Newspapers Published in Pontiac ...

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 122 newspapers that have been published in the area around Pontiac.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Pontiac, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Pontiac.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 Pontiac:

Cemeteries Near Pontiac ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Pontiac.

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

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

  • Pontiac Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Economy Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Economy Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Economy Cemetery
  • Foster Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Foster Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Foster Cemetery
  • Sherman Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sherman Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sherman Cemetery
  • Blankenship Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Blankenship Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Blankenship Cemetery
  • Harmony Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Harmony Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Harmony Cemetery
  • Belle Vista Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Belle Vista Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Belle Vista Cemetery
  • Quito Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Quito Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Quito Cemetery
  • Chelsea Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Chelsea Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Chelsea Cemetery
  • Sunset Lawns Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sunset Lawns Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sunset Lawns Cemetery
  • Butts - Wakefield Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Leon Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Leon Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Leon Cemetery
  • Continue List   (94 more) ...
    • Little Walnut Glencoe Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Walnut Valley Memorial Park
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Walnut Valley Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Walnut Valley Memorial Park
    • Ridgeway Cemetery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ridgeway Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ridgeway Cemetery

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 Pontiac had a population of 29 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service.

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

  • Rosalia
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Chelsea ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chelsea have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chelsea
    • Chelsea is located in Butler County
  • El Dorado
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Summit
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Summit have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summit
    • Summit is located in Butler County
  • Leon
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Leon have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leon
    • Leon is located in Butler County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 730 people
    • Leon has also been known as:
    • West Leon
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Leon <3>
  • Keighley
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Keighley have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keighley
    • Keighley is located in Butler County
  • Haverhill
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Haverhill have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haverhill
    • Haverhill is located in Butler County
  • Ivanpah
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ivanpah have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivanpah
    • Ivanpah is located in Greenwood County
  • De Graff
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for De Graff have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for De Graff
    • De Graff is located in Butler County
  • Beaumont
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Reece
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reece
    • Reece is located in Greenwood County
  • Towanda
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Towanda have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Towanda
    • Towanda is located in Butler County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,446 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Towanda <3>
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Augusta
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Potwin
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Potwin
      • Potwin is located in Butler County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 438 people
    • Latham
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Latham have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Latham
      • Latham is located in Butler County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 137 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Latham <3>

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

The official website for Butler County: www.bucoks.com/

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

Footnotes ...

<1>If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer. For example, we might find a sentence like "He went south past Pontiac and then turned west". While Pontiac could be some kind of landmark, we think that it's more likely to be a community. We've added Pontiac as a placeholder with the hope that we'll be able to add more information in the future.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Pontiac could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.

Since confusion between counties is common, we searched and weren't able to find another Kansas community named Pontiac.
<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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Pontiac) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Pontiac. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.8175, Longitude: -96.7161       In this case, the coordinates for Pontiac have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>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.
<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 Pontiac, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024