RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Louisiana >> Ouachita Parish >> Eureka >> Genealogy HelperIndex...

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 Eureka (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 Eureka. 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 northwest corner of their home parish. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals were in the next parish to the west. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the parish to the north.

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 north 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.

Eureka is located in Ouachita 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 Ouachita Parish: Caldwell, Jackson, Lincoln, Morehouse, Richland & Union.

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

  • Ouachita Parish     (The home parish of Eureka)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Eureka, with the one closest to Eureka listed first.
    • Frost Town
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Frost Town is located in Ouachita Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frost Town
    • Calhoun
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Forksville
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Indian Village
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Indian Village is located in Ouachita Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Village
    • Claiborne
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
      • Claiborne is located in Ouachita Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Claiborne
    • West Monroe
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Lapine
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Monroe
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Northpark Village
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Northpark Village is located in Ouachita Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Northpark Village
    • Pino Bayou Village
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Pino Bayou Village is located in Ouachita Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pino Bayou Village
    • Leisure Village
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Leisure Village is located in Ouachita Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leisure Village
    • Richwood
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Richwood is located in Ouachita Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richwood
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,375 people
  • Caldwell Parish
  • Claiborne Parish
  • Jackson Parish
    • The following are listed by their distance from Eureka, with the one closest to Eureka listed first.
    • Cartwright
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Eros
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
      • Eros is located in Jackson Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eros
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 151 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Eros <1>
    • Nash ‑ Historic
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Nash is located in Jackson Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nash
    • Chatham
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Dalley ‑ Historic
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
      • Dalley is located in Jackson Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dalley
    • Ansley
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Zoar
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Quitman
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Weston
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • North Hodge
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • North Hodge is located in Jackson Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Hodge
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 372 people
    • East Hodge
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Hodge
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Lincoln Parish
    • The following are listed by their distance from Eureka, with the one closest to Eureka listed first.
    • Averit ‑ Historic
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
      • Averit is located in Lincoln Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Averit
    • Sibley
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Choudrant
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Cedarton
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Ruston
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Vienna
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Vienna is located in Lincoln Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vienna
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 365 people
    • Unionville
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Dubach
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Grambling
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Hico
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Vining Mills ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Vining Mills is located in Lincoln Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vining Mills
    • Simsboro
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
  • Morehouse Parish
    • The following are listed by their distance from Eureka, with the one closest to Eureka listed first.
    • Windsor
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Collinston
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Bastrop
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Richland Parish
  • Union Parish

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

Cemeteries Near Eureka ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Eureka.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Eureka, with the one closest to Eureka 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.<3>

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

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

  • Walnut Lane ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Walnut Lane is located in Union Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Lane
  • Calhoun
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Forksville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Averit ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Averit is located in Lincoln Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Averit
  • Downsville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Sibley
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Indian Village
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Indian Village is located in Ouachita Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Village
  • Cheniere
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Cheniere is located in Ouachita Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cheniere
  • Point
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Point is located in Union Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Point
  • Choudrant
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Cadeville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Cadeville is located in Ouachita Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cadeville
  • Moselys Bluff
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Moselys Bluff is located in Union Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moselys Bluff
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • D'Arbonne
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
      • D'Arbonne is located in Union Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for D'Arbonne
    • Cedarton
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Douglas
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Douglas is located in Lincoln Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Douglas

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

Newspapers Published in Eureka ...

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 41 newspapers that have been published in the area around Eureka.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Eureka, there are papers which were published within 17 miles [27.4 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Eureka.

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 Eureka:

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 Eureka, 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Eureka) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.