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 Seward (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 Seward. 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 and 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.
Seward is located in Stafford 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 Stafford County: Barton, Edwards, Pawnee, Pratt, Reno & Rice.
Below are the counties that are near Seward. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Seward:
- Stafford County (The home county of Seward)
- The following are listed by their distance from Seward, with the one closest to Seward listed first.
- Radium
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Radium
- Radium is located in Stafford County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 23 people
- Hudson
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast) - Saint John
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint John have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint John
- Saint John is located in Stafford County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,139 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Saint John <2>
- Macksville
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Macksville
- Macksville is located in Stafford County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 518 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Macksville <2>
- Stafford
(18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stafford
- Stafford is located in Stafford County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 920 people
- Stafford has also been known as:
- Stafford Center
- Stafford City
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Stafford <2>
- Neola
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
- Barton County
- The following are listed by their distance from Seward, with the one closest to Seward listed first.
- Dundee
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dundee
- Dundee is located in Barton County
- Anchorway
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Anchorway
- Anchorway is located in Barton County
- Pawnee Rock
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pawnee Rock
- Pawnee Rock is located in Barton County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 230 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Pawnee Rock <2>
- Great Bend
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Great Bend
- Great Bend is located in Barton County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 14,901 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Great Bend <2>
- Dartmouth
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast) - Ellinwood
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Ellinwood. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ellinwood
- Ellinwood is located in Barton County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,932 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ellinwood <2>
- Heizer
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the north) - Kanbrick
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the north) - South Hoisington
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Hoisington have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Hoisington
- South Hoisington is located in Barton County
- Albert
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Albert have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Albert
- Albert is located in Barton County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 163 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Albert <2>
- Boyd ‑ Historic
(23 miles [37 km] to the north) - Hoisington
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hoisington
- Hoisington is located in Barton County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,452 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hoisington <2>
- Edwards County
- The following are listed by their distance from Seward, with the one closest to Seward listed first.
- Belpre
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belpre
- Belpre is located in Edwards County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 81 people
- Trousdale ‑ Historic
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest) - Lewis
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lewis have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lewis
- Lewis is located in Edwards County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 407 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lewis <2>
- Pawnee County
- The following are listed by their distance from Seward, with the one closest to Seward listed first.
- Ray ‑ Historic
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ray
- Ray is located in Pawnee County
- Larned
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Larned
- Larned is located in Pawnee County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 3,629 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Larned <2>
- Ash Valley
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ash Valley
- Ash Valley is located in Pawnee County
- Garfield
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garfield
- Garfield is located in Pawnee County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 168 people
- Pratt County
- Reno County
- The following are listed by their distance from Seward, with the one closest to Seward listed first.
- Kilbourns Corner
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Kilbourns Corner. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kilbourns Corner
- Kilbourns Corner is located in Reno County
- Sylvia
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sylvia
- Sylvia is located in Reno County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 204 people
- Sylvia has also been known as:
- Anderson's Farm
- Huntsville
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Huntsville. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huntsville
- Huntsville is located in Reno County
- McVays Corner
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for McVays Corner. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McVays Corner
- McVays Corner is located in Reno County
- Plevna
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plevna
- Plevna is located in Reno County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 98 people
- Rice County
- The following are listed by their distance from Seward, with the one closest to Seward listed first.
- Raymond
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raymond
- Raymond is located in Rice County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 75 people
- Silica
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast) - Alden
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alden have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alden
- Alden is located in Rice County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 139 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Alden <2>
- Chase
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
- Rush County
- The following are listed by their distance from Seward, with the one closest to Seward listed first.
- Otis
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Otis have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Otis
- Otis is located in Rush County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 251 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Otis <2>
- Timken
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Timken
- Timken is located in Rush County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 62 people
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Seward, see our County-by-County Page for Seward.
Cemeteries Near Seward ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Seward.
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 Seward covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Seward, with the one closest to Seward listed first.
- Eden Valley Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Eden Valley Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #92338 <4>
- St. Francis Xavier Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Francis Xavier Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Francis Xavier Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Pleasant Ridge Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pleasant Ridge Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pleasant Ridge Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Pt. View Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pt. View Cemetery
- Peace Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Peace Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Peace Cemetery is located 3 miles [4.8 km]<5> to the south of Hudson.
- The Peace Cemetery has also been known as:
- Peace UCC Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2154832 <4>
- Fertig Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fertig Cemetery
- Salem Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Salem Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Salem Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Trinity Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Trinity Cemetery
- Dundee Valley Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Dundee Valley Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Dundee Valley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Fairview Park Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fairview Park Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Fairview Park Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the northeast of Saint John.
- The Fairview Park Cemetery has also been known as:
- Fairview Memorial Park
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1330177 <4>
- Feldhut Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Feldhut Cemetery
- Pawnee Rock Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pawnee Rock Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #93289 <4>
- Continue List (65 more) ...
- Great Bend Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Great Bend Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #92576 <4>
- Rockville Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rockville Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rockville Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Bergthal Mennonite Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bergthal Mennonite Cemetery
- The Bergthal Mennonite Cemetery has also been known as:
- Bergtal Cemetery
- Bergthal Cemetery
- Great Bend 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 Seward had a population of 100 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Seward had a population of 62 people.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Seward, with the one closest to Seward listed first.
- Hudson
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast) - Ray ‑ Historic
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ray
- Ray is located in Pawnee County
- Dundee
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dundee
- Dundee is located in Barton County
- Pawnee Rock
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pawnee Rock
- Pawnee Rock is located in Barton County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 230 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Pawnee Rock <2>
- Saint John
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint John have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint John
- Saint John is located in Stafford County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,139 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Saint John <2>
- Great Bend
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Great Bend
- Great Bend is located in Barton County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 14,901 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Great Bend <2>
- Dillwyn
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the south) - Dartmouth
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast) - Ellinwood
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Ellinwood. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ellinwood
- Ellinwood is located in Barton County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,932 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ellinwood <2>
- Larned
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Larned
- Larned is located in Pawnee County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 3,629 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Larned <2>
- Macksville
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Macksville
- Macksville is located in Stafford County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 518 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Macksville <2>
- Heizer
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the north) - Continue List (15 more) ...
- Stafford
(18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stafford
- Stafford is located in Stafford County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 920 people
- Stafford has also been known as:
- Stafford Center
- Stafford City
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Stafford <2>
- Raymond
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raymond
- Raymond is located in Rice County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 75 people
- Belpre
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belpre
- Belpre is located in Edwards County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 81 people
- Stafford
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Seward. See our List of 1890's Communities around Seward.
Newspapers Published in Seward ...
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 100 newspapers that have been published in the area around Seward.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Seward, 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 Seward.
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 either 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 Seward:
- Websites specific to Kansas
- Jump to Cyndi's List
- Jump to Family Search
- Jump to Genealogy Trails
- Website for the Kansas Historical Society
- Pages specific to Stafford County
- Jump to Cyndi's List
- Jump to Family Search
- Jump to Genealogy Trails
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Barton County
- Jump to Cyndi's List
- Jump to Family Search
- Jump to Genealogy Trails
- Edwards County
- Jump to Cyndi's List
- Jump to Family Search
- Jump to Genealogy Trails
- Pawnee County
- Jump to Cyndi's List
- Jump to Family Search
- Jump to Genealogy Trails
- Pratt County
- Jump to Cyndi's List
- Jump to Family Search
- Jump to Genealogy Trails
- Reno County
- Jump to Cyndi's List
- Jump to Family Search
- Jump to Genealogy Trails
- Rice County
- Jump to Cyndi's List
- Jump to Family Search
- Jump to Genealogy Trails
- Rush County
- Jump to Cyndi's List
- Jump to Family Search
- Jump to Genealogy Trails
- Barton County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Kansas
- Cemetery Junction: Cemeteries of Kansas
- Cyndi's List
- Cemeteries of Kansas
- Cemeteries of Stafford County
- FamilySearch.org: Cemeteries of Kansas
- Find-A-Grave: Home Page
- Interment.net
- Cemeteries of Kansas
- Cemeteries of Stafford County
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Seward. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Stafford County: www.staffordcounty.org/
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> | 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> | 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- Seward) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Seward. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.1779, Longitude: -98.7942 In this case, the coordinates for Seward have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Seward, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |