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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

Although we found mention of Smithfield during our research, we have little information about it.<1> We believe that Smithfield 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 Smithfield (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 Smithfield. 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 and 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.

Smithfield is located in Graham 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 Graham County: Decatur, Ellis, Gove, Norton, Phillips, Rooks, Sheridan & Trego.

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

  • Graham County     (The home county of Smithfield)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Smithfield, with the one closest to Smithfield listed first.
    • Roscoe
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roscoe
      • Roscoe is located in Graham County
    • Hill City
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hill City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hill City
      • Hill City is located in Graham County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,354 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hill City <3>
    • Bogue
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bogue
      • Bogue is located in Graham County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 131 people
      • Bogue has also been known as:
      • Wildhorse
    • Penokee
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Penokee
      • Penokee is located in Graham County
    • Nicodemus
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nicodemus have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nicodemus
      • Nicodemus is located in Graham County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Nicodemus <3>
    • Morland
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Morland have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Morland
      • Morland is located in Graham County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 143 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Morland <3>
    • Saint Peter
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint Peter have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Peter
      • Saint Peter is located in Graham County
  • Decatur County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Smithfield, with the one closest to Smithfield listed first.
    • Allison ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Allison have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Allison
      • Allison is located in Decatur County
    • Jennings
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jennings
      • Jennings is located in Decatur County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 90 people
  • Norton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Smithfield, with the one closest to Smithfield listed first.
    • Edmond
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Edmond have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edmond
      • Edmond is located in Norton County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 46 people
      • Edmond has also been known as:
      • Edmond City
    • Densmore
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Densmore
      • Densmore is located in Norton County
    • Lenora
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lenora have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lenora
      • Lenora is located in Norton County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 229 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lenora <3>
    • Dellvale
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dellvale
      • Dellvale is located in Norton County
    • Oronoque
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oronoque
      • Oronoque is located in Norton County
    • Norton
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Norton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Norton
      • Norton is located in Norton County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,709 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Norton <3>
    • Clayton
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clayton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clayton
      • Clayton is located in Norton County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 54 people
    • Rockwell City ‑ Historic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rockwell City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockwell City
      • Rockwell City is located in Norton County
    • Almena
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Almena have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Almena
      • Almena is located in Norton County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 376 people
  • Phillips County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Smithfield, with the one closest to Smithfield listed first.
    • Logan
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Speed
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Speed have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Speed
      • Speed is located in Phillips County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 34 people
    • Prairie View
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie View
      • Prairie View is located in Phillips County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 120 people
    • Stuttgart
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stuttgart
      • Stuttgart is located in Phillips County
    • Glade
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glade
      • Glade is located in Phillips County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 89 people
  • Riley County
    • Clayton
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clayton
      • Clayton is located in Riley County
  • Rooks County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Smithfield, with the one closest to Smithfield listed first.
    • Damar
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Palco
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palco
      • Palco is located in Rooks County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 262 people
    • Zurich
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Zurich have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zurich
      • Zurich is located in Rooks County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 94 people
    • Stockton
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stockton
      • Stockton is located in Rooks County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,234 people
      • Former name for Stockton:
      • Stocktown
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Stockton <3>
  • Sheridan County
    • Studley
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Studley
      • Studley is located in Sheridan County

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

Newspapers Published in Smithfield ...

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 63 newspapers that have been published in the area around Smithfield.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Smithfield, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Smithfield.

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 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 Smithfield:

Cemeteries Near Smithfield ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Smithfield.

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

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

  • Roscoe Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Roscoe Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Roscoe Cemetery
  • Hill City Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hill City Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hill City Cemetery
  • McFarland Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the McFarland Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the McFarland Cemetery
  • Whitfield Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Whitfield Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Whitfield Cemetery
  • South Star Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the South Star Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the South Star Cemetery
  • Fagan Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fagan Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fagan Cemetery
  • Mt. Olive Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Rock Creek Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rock Creek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rock Creek Cemetery
  • Modell Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Modell Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Modell Cemetery
  • Buchanan Brown Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • Edmond Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Edmond Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Edmond Cemetery
  • Penokee Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Penokee Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Penokee Cemetery
  • Continue List   (59 more) ...
    • Wild Horse Twp. Cemetery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wild Horse Twp. Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wild Horse Twp. Cemetery
    • Nicodemus Cemetery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Nicodemus Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Nicodemus Cemetery
    • Prairie Dale Cemetery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Prairie Dale Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Prairie Dale 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.<5>

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

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

  • Roscoe
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roscoe
    • Roscoe is located in Graham County
  • Hill City
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hill City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hill City
    • Hill City is located in Graham County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,354 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hill City <3>
  • Edmond
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Edmond have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edmond
    • Edmond is located in Norton County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 46 people
    • Edmond has also been known as:
    • Edmond City
  • Penokee
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Penokee
    • Penokee is located in Graham County
  • Bogue
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bogue
    • Bogue is located in Graham County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 131 people
    • Bogue has also been known as:
    • Wildhorse
  • Densmore
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Densmore
    • Densmore is located in Norton County
  • Nicodemus
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nicodemus have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nicodemus
    • Nicodemus is located in Graham County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Nicodemus <3>
  • Lenora
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lenora have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lenora
    • Lenora is located in Norton County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 229 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lenora <3>
  • Morland
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Morland have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Morland
    • Morland is located in Graham County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 143 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Morland <3>
  • Damar
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
  • New Almelo
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for New Almelo have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Almelo
    • New Almelo is located in Norton County
  • Logan
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Lucerne
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lucerne have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lucerne
      • Lucerne is located in Sheridan County
    • Studley
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Studley
      • Studley is located in Sheridan County
    • Palco
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palco
      • Palco is located in Rooks County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 262 people

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

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 Smithfield and then turned west". While Smithfield could be some kind of landmark, we think that it's more likely to be a community. We've added Smithfield 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 Miller Creek to see Pete ... Miller Creek 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 Smithfield 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.

Just in case there has been confusion between counties, we found that there are two Kansas communities named Smithfield: This one is located in Graham County and the other is located in Doniphan County. For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Smithfield.
<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 '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- Smithfield) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Smithfield. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.4811, Longitude: -99.8262       In this case, the coordinates for Smithfield have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>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 Smithfield, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024