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 Traer (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 Traer. 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 Traer ...
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.
Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might occur.
Another variation: Trader.
You might be interested in other communities that are also named Traer. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Traer.
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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.
Traer is located in Decatur 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 Decatur County: Norton, Rawlins, Sheridan, Thomas, Furnas (NE) & Red Willow (NE).
Below are the counties that are near Traer. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Traer:
- Decatur County (The home county of Traer)
- The following are listed by their distance from Traer, with the one closest to Traer listed first.
- Oberlin
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
- Kanona
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
- Kanona is located in Decatur County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kanona
- Lyle
(23 miles [37 km] to the east)
- Lyle is located in Decatur County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyle
- Dresden
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
- Norcatur
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
- Norcatur is located in Decatur County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Norcatur
- Population from the 2020 Census: 142 people
- Jennings
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
- Jennings is located in Decatur County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jennings
- Population from the 2020 Census: 90 people
- Leoville
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
- Leoville is located in Decatur County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leoville
- Norton County
- Clayton
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
- Clayton is located in Norton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clayton
- Population from the 2020 Census: 54 people
- Rawlins County
- The following are listed by their distance from Traer, with the one closest to Traer listed first.
- Herndon
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Herndon is located in Rawlins County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Herndon
- Population from the 2020 Census: 129 people
- Ludell
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
- Ludell is located in Rawlins County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ludell
- Atwood
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
- Beardsley
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
- Beardsley is located in Rawlins County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beardsley
- Sheridan County
- Selden
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
- Selden is located in Sheridan County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Selden
- Population from the 2020 Census: 211 people
- Hitchcock County (NE)
- The following are listed by their distance from Traer, with the one closest to Traer listed first.
- Culbertson
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
- Trenton
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
- Beverly
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
- Beverly is located in Hitchcock County (NE)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beverly
- Red Willow County (NE)
- The following are listed by their distance from Traer, with the one closest to Traer listed first.
- Danbury
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
- McCook
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
- McCook is located in Red Willow County (NE)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McCook
- Population from the 2020 Census: 7,499 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for McCook <1>
- Lebanon
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
- Red Willow
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
- Red Willow is located in Red Willow County (NE)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Willow
- Indianola
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
- Bartley
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Traer, see our County-by-County Page for Traer.
Cemeteries Near Traer ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Traer.
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 Traer - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Traer covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Traer, with the one closest to Traer listed first.
- Traer Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the east)
- St. Johns Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
- St. Johns Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Evangelical Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Cedar Bluffs Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Union Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Pleasant Prairie Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- St. Mary's Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- Swedish Lutheran Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- Swedish Baptist Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
- Oberlin Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
- Covenant Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
- Continue List (59 more) ...
- Fairview Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
- Hamper Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
- Danbury - Marion Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
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.<2>
The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Traer had a population of 30 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Traer, with the one closest to Traer listed first.
- Herndon
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Herndon is located in Rawlins County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Herndon
- Population from the 2020 Census: 129 people
- Cedar Bluffs
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Cedar Bluffs is located in Decatur County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Bluffs
- Oberlin
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
- Danbury
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
- Cornell ‑ Historic
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
- Cornell is located in Hitchcock County (NE)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cornell
- Ludell
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
- Ludell is located in Rawlins County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ludell
- Achilles
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
- Achilles is located in Rawlins County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Achilles
- Kanona
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
- Kanona is located in Decatur County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kanona
- McCook
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
- McCook is located in Red Willow County (NE)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McCook
- Population from the 2020 Census: 7,499 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for McCook <1>
- Perry
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
- Perry is located in Red Willow County (NE)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Perry
- Atwood
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
- Culbertson
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
- Continue List (15 more) ...
- Lebanon
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
- Red Willow
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
- Red Willow is located in Red Willow County (NE)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Willow
- Lyle
(23 miles [37 km] to the east)
- Lyle is located in Decatur County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyle
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Traer. See our List of 1890's Communities around Traer.
Newspapers Published in Traer ...
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 107 newspapers that have been published in the area around Traer.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Traer, 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 Traer.
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 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 Traer:
- Websites specific to Kansas
- Pages specific to Decatur County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Norton County
- Rawlins County
- Sheridan County
- Hitchcock County
- Red Willow County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Kansas
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> | 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 Traer, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <3> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Traer) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |