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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 Baker (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 Baker. 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 Parishes ...

When searching for family records, we have frequently made the mistake of not checking the neighboring parishes.

For example, we have great-grandparents who lived in the southwest corner of their home parish. During their lives, most doctors were in the next parish to the west. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the parish to the south.

So when searching for records, we had our best success by looking in neighboring parishes instead of the parish in which they lived:  their home parish contained property and probate records; the parish to the west contained birth and death records; the parish to the south contained their burial records. If we hadn't included the neighboring parishes, we would have missed many valuable sources of information.

If you're in a similar situation, we hope that the following information helps.

Baker is located in East Baton Rouge Parish.

To see how the shape of Louisiana's parishes may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following parishes adjoin and form the boundaries of East Baton Rouge Parish: Ascension, East Feliciana, Iberville, Livingston, Saint Helena, West Baton Rouge & West Feliciana.

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

  • East Baton Rouge Parish     (The home parish of Baker)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Baker, with the one closest to Baker listed first.
    • Tristian Village
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Tristian Village is located in East Baton Rouge Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tristian Village
    • Brownfields
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Brownfields is located in East Baton Rouge Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brownfields
    • Zachary
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Zion City
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Zion City is located in East Baton Rouge Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zion City
    • Boganvilla
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Maribel Village
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Maribel Village is located in East Baton Rouge Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maribel Village
    • Merrydale
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Merrydale is located in East Baton Rouge Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merrydale
    • Central
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Central is located in East Baton Rouge Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Central
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 29,450 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Central <1>
    • Greenwell Springs
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Port Hudson
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Baton Rouge
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Beauregard Town
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Beauregard Town is located in East Baton Rouge Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beauregard Town
    • Monticello
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Monticello is located in East Baton Rouge Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monticello
  • Ascension Parish
    • The following are listed by their distance from Baker, with the one closest to Baker listed first.
    • Hope Villa
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Hope Villa is located in Ascension Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hope Villa
    • Bullion
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Bullion is located in Ascension Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bullion
    • Oak Grove
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Oak Grove is located in Ascension Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
    • Galvez Town
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Galvez Town is located in Ascension Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galvez Town
    • Hobart
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Hobart is located in Ascension Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hobart
    • Little Prairie
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Little Prairie is located in Ascension Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Prairie
    • Prairieville
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Claybank
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Claybank is located in Ascension Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Claybank
    • Dutch Town
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Galvez
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Galvez is located in Ascension Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galvez
    • Duplessis
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Cornerview
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Cornerview is located in Ascension Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cornerview
    • Lake
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Lake is located in Ascension Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake
  • East Feliciana Parish
    • The following are listed by their distance from Baker, with the one closest to Baker listed first.
    • Lindsay
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Slaughter
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Bells Store ‑ Historic
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
      • Bells Store is located in East Feliciana Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bells Store
    • Ethel
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Blairstown
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jackson
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Jackson is located in East Feliciana Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jackson
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,707 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Jackson <1>
    • Clinton
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Clinton is located in East Feliciana Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clinton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,486 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Clinton <1>
    • Wilson
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Norwood
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Norwood is located in East Feliciana Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Norwood
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 281 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Norwood <1>
    • Woodland
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Iberville Parish
  • Livingston Parish
    • The following are listed by their distance from Baker, with the one closest to Baker listed first.
    • Watson
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Denham Springs
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Oldfield
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Oldfield is located in Livingston Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oldfield
    • Walker
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Livingston
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Port Vincent
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Port Vincent is located in Livingston Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Port Vincent
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 650 people
    • Holden
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Starns
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • French Settlement
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Pointe Coupee Parish
  • Saint Helena Parish
    • The following are listed by their distance from Baker, with the one closest to Baker listed first.
    • Grangeville
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Pine Grove
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Coleman Town
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Coleman Town is located in Saint Helena Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coleman Town
    • Montpelier
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Montpelier is located in Saint Helena Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montpelier
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 239 people
  • West Baton Rouge Parish
  • West Feliciana Parish
  • Wilkinson County (MS)

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

Cemeteries Near Baker ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Baker.

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 Baker - one of the links might be able to help.

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Baker covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

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 in 1895, Baker had a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Baker had a population of 12,999 people.

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

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Baker ...

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 4 newspapers that have been published in the area around Baker.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Baker. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Baker and those printed in the larger area surrounding Baker.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 4 miles [6.4 km]<3> of Baker.

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 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 Baker:

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 Baker, 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Baker) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.