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 Vanora (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 Vanora. 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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and 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.
Vanora is located in Butler 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 Butler County: Chase, Cowley, Elk, Greenwood, Harvey, Marion, Sedgwick & Sumner.
Below are the counties that are near Vanora. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Vanora:
- Butler County (The home county of Vanora)
- The following are listed by their distance from Vanora, with the one closest to Vanora listed first.
- El Dorado
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
- Midian
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
- Midian is located in Butler County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Midian
- Haverhill
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Haverhill is located in Butler County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haverhill
- Prospect
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Prospect is located in Butler County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prospect
- Pickrell Corner
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
- Pickrell Corner is located in Butler County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pickrell Corner
- Augusta
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Towanda
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Leon
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Leon is located in Butler County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leon
- Population from the 2020 Census: 730 people
- Leon has also been known as:
- West Leon
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Leon <1>
- Hopkins
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
- Hopkins is located in Butler County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hopkins
- Pontiac
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
- Pontiac is located in Butler County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pontiac
- Chelsea ‑ Historic
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
- Chelsea is located in Butler County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chelsea
- Bois d'Arc
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
- Bois d'Arc is located in Butler County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bois d'Arc
- Lorena
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
- Lorena is located in Butler County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lorena
- Chase County
- Wonsevu
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
- Wonsevu is located in Chase County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wonsevu
- Cowley County
- The following are listed by their distance from Vanora, with the one closest to Vanora listed first.
- Atlanta
(23 miles [37 km] to the south)
- Rock
(23 miles [37 km] to the south)
- Wilmot
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
- Wilmot is located in Cowley County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilmot
- Glen Crouse
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
- Glen Crouse is located in Cowley County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Crouse
- Floral
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
- Floral is located in Cowley County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Floral
- Udall
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
- Akron
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
- Akron is located in Cowley County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Akron
- Dale
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
- Dale is located in Cowley County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dale
- Greenwood County
- The following are listed by their distance from Vanora, with the one closest to Vanora listed first.
- Ivanpah
(23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
- Ivanpah is located in Greenwood County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivanpah
- Reece
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
- Reece is located in Greenwood County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reece
- Piedmont
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
- Lapland
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
- Lapland is located in Greenwood County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lapland
- Harvey County
- The following are listed by their distance from Vanora, with the one closest to Vanora listed first.
- Annelly
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
- Annelly is located in Harvey County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Annelly
- McLains
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
- McLains is located in Harvey County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McLains
- Putnam
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
- Putnam is located in Harvey County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Putnam
- Sedgwick
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
- Marion County
- The following are listed by their distance from Vanora, with the one closest to Vanora listed first.
- Burns
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
- Burns is located in Marion County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burns
- Population from the 2020 Census: 204 people
- Peabody
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
- Peabody is located in Marion County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peabody
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,079 people
- Former name for Peabody:
- Coneburgh
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Peabody <1>
- Sedgwick County
- The following are listed by their distance from Vanora, with the one closest to Vanora listed first.
- Greenwich
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
- Greenwich is located in Sedgwick County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenwich
- Bel Aire
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
- Eastborough
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
- Eastborough is located in Sedgwick County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eastborough
- Population from the 2020 Census: 730 people
- Kechi
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
- Park City
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
- Wichita Heights
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
- Wichita Heights is located in Sedgwick County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wichita Heights
- Wichita
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
- Derby
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
- Cow Town
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- Cow Town is located in Sedgwick County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cow Town
- Valley Center
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- Mulvane
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
- Waco
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
- Waco is located in Sedgwick County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waco
- Haysville
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Vanora, see our County-by-County Page for Vanora.
Cemeteries Near Vanora ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Vanora.
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 Vanora - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Vanora covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Vanora, with the one closest to Vanora listed first.
- Sunset Lawns Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
- Walnut Valley Memorial Park
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
- Sutton Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
- Belle Vista Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- Calvary Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Butts - Wakefield Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Sherman Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Garrison Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Towanda Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
- Elmwood Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Brown Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brown Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Brown Cemetery is located outside and to the northeast of Leon.
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2378393 <2>
- Foster Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- Continue List (107 more) ...
- Baker Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
- Leon Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
- Economy Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
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.<3>
While we didn't find Vanora in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Vanora.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Vanora, with the one closest to Vanora listed first.
- El Dorado
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
- Haverhill
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Haverhill is located in Butler County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haverhill
- Augusta
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Towanda
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Leon
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Leon is located in Butler County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leon
- Population from the 2020 Census: 730 people
- Leon has also been known as:
- West Leon
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Leon <1>
- Pontiac
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
- Pontiac is located in Butler County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pontiac
- Lorena
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
- Lorena is located in Butler County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lorena
- Chelsea ‑ Historic
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
- Chelsea is located in Butler County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chelsea
- Benton
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
- Gordon
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
- Gordon is located in Butler County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gordon
- Potwin
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
- Potwin is located in Butler County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Potwin
- Population from the 2020 Census: 438 people
- Andover
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
- Andover is located in Butler County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Andover
- Population from the 2020 Census: 13,672 people
- Andover has also been known as:
- Cloud City
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Andover <1>
- Continue List (14 more) ...
- Keighley
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
- Keighley is located in Butler County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keighley
- De Graff
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- De Graff is located in Butler County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for De Graff
- Rosalia
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Vanora. See our List of 1890's Communities around Vanora.
Newspapers Published in Vanora ...
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 212 newspapers that have been published in the area around Vanora.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Vanora, 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 Vanora.
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 Vanora:
- Websites specific to Kansas
- Pages specific to Butler County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Chase County
- Cowley County
- Greenwood County
- Harvey County
- Marion County
- Sedgwick 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> | 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. |
| <3> | 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 Vanora, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Vanora) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |