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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 Forked Island (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 Forked Island. 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 Forked Island ...

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 have occurred.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Forked Island: Forked Is. (in Canada, 'Isld.' is the more common abbreviation.)

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 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 and hospitals 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.

Forked Island is located in Vermilion Parish.

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

The following parishes adjoin and form the boundaries of Vermilion Parish: Acadia, Cameron, Iberia, Jefferson Davis & Lafayette.

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

  • Vermilion Parish     (The home parish of Forked Island)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Forked Island, with the one closest to Forked Island listed first.
    • Intracoastal City
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Intracoastal City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Intracoastal City
      • Intracoastal City is located in Vermilion Parish
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Intracoastal City <2>
    • Kaplan
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kaplan
      • Kaplan is located in Vermilion Parish
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,345 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Kaplan <2>
    • Perry
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Perry have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Perry
      • Perry is located in Vermilion Parish
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Perry <2>
    • Abbeville
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Meaux
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meaux
      • Meaux is located in Vermilion Parish
    • Youngs
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Youngs
      • Youngs is located in Vermilion Parish
    • Andrew
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Andrew
      • Andrew is located in Vermilion Parish
    • Leroy
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leroy
      • Leroy is located in Vermilion Parish
    • Erath
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erath
      • Erath is located in Vermilion Parish
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,030 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Erath <2>
    • Gueydan
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gueydan have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gueydan
      • Gueydan is located in Vermilion Parish
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,328 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Gueydan <2>
    • Indian Bayou
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Indian Bayou. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Bayou
      • Indian Bayou is located in Vermilion Parish
    • Delcambre
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Delcambre have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Delcambre
      • Delcambre is located in Vermilion Parish
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,837 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Delcambre <2>
  • Acadia Parish
    • The following are listed by their distance from Forked Island, with the one closest to Forked Island listed first.
    • Ebenezer
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ebenezer
      • Ebenezer is located in Acadia Parish
    • Morse
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Morse have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Morse
      • Morse is located in Acadia Parish
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 803 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Morse <2>
    • Crowley
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Estherwood
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Estherwood have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Estherwood
      • Estherwood is located in Acadia Parish
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,081 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Estherwood <2>
    • Rayne
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Mermentau
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mermentau have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mermentau
      • Mermentau is located in Acadia Parish
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 621 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mermentau <2>
    • Egan
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Iberia Parish
    • The following are listed by their distance from Forked Island, with the one closest to Forked Island listed first.
    • Avery Island
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Derouen
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Derouen
      • Derouen is located in Iberia Parish
  • Jefferson Davis Parish
    • Lake Arthur
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lake Arthur have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Arthur
      • Lake Arthur is located in Jefferson Davis Parish
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,736 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lake Arthur <2>
  • Lafayette Parish
    • The following are listed by their distance from Forked Island, with the one closest to Forked Island listed first.
    • Ridge
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ridge
      • Ridge is located in Lafayette Parish
    • Milton
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Milton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milton
      • Milton is located in Lafayette Parish
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Milton <2>
    • Youngsville
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Youngsville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Youngsville
      • Youngsville is located in Lafayette Parish
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 15,262 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Youngsville <2>
    • Duson
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duson
      • Duson is located in Lafayette Parish
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,761 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Duson <2>
    • Billeaud
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Billeaud
      • Billeaud is located in Lafayette Parish
    • Broussard
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Scott
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scott
      • Scott is located in Lafayette Parish
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 8,787 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Scott <2>
  • Saint Martin Parish
    • The following are listed by their distance from Forked Island, with the one closest to Forked Island listed first.
    • Cade
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cade have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cade
      • Cade is located in Saint Martin Parish
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cade <2>
    • Duchamp
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Duchamp have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duchamp
      • Duchamp is located in Saint Martin Parish
  • Saint Mary Parish
    • Cypremort Point
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cypremort Point have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cypremort Point
      • Cypremort Point is located in Saint Mary Parish

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

Cemeteries Near Forked Island ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Forked Island.

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

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

  • Suire Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Suire Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Suire Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Harrington Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Harrington Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Harrington Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Greene Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Greene Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Greene Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Briggs Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Briggs Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Briggs Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mouton Cove Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mouton Cove Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mouton Cove Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Badon Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Le Maire Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Le Maire Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Le Maire Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hebert Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hebert Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hebert Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Marceaux Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Marceaux Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Marceaux Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Marceaux Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Marceaux Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Marceaux Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hebert Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hebert Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hebert Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Bancker Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bancker Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bancker Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (66 more) ...
    • Marceaux Cemetery
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Marceaux Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Marceaux Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Perry - O'Bryan Cemetery
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Perry - O'Bryan Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Perry - O'Bryan Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Nunez Cemetery
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Nunez Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Nunez Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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.<4>

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

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

  • Perry
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Perry have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Perry
    • Perry is located in Vermilion Parish
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Perry <2>
  • Henry
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Henry have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Henry
    • Henry is located in Vermilion Parish
  • Abbeville
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Indian Bayou
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Indian Bayou. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Bayou
    • Indian Bayou is located in Vermilion Parish
  • Ridge
    (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ridge
    • Ridge is located in Lafayette Parish
  • Derouen
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Derouen
    • Derouen is located in Iberia Parish
  • Youngsville
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Youngsville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Youngsville
    • Youngsville is located in Lafayette Parish
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 15,262 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Youngsville <2>
  • Estherwood
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Estherwood have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Estherwood
    • Estherwood is located in Acadia Parish
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,081 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Estherwood <2>
  • Crowley
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
  • Rayne
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
  • Duson
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duson
    • Duson is located in Lafayette Parish
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,761 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Duson <2>
  • Burke
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Burke have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burke
    • Burke is located in Iberia Parish
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Cade
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cade have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cade
      • Cade is located in Saint Martin Parish
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cade <2>
    • Duchamp
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Duchamp have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duchamp
      • Duchamp is located in Saint Martin Parish
    • Broussard
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)

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

Newspapers Published in Forked Island ...

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 22 newspapers that have been published in the area around Forked Island.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Forked Island, there are papers which were published within 26 miles [41.8 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Forked Island.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we start with 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 Forked Island:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Forked Island. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for State of Louisiana: https://www.louisiana.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<4>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 Forked Island, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<5>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- Forked Island) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Forked Island. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 29.8313, Longitude: -92.3001       In this case, the coordinates for Forked Island have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025