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 Illinois Plant (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 Illinois Plant. 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/Counties ...
When searching for family records, we have frequently made the mistake of not checking the neighboring parishes/counties.
For example, we have great-grandparents who lived in the southeast corner of their home parish. During their lives, most hospitals were in the next parish to the east. 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/counties instead of the parish in which they lived: their home parish contained property and probate records; the parish to the east contained birth and death records; the parish to the south contained their burial records. If we hadn't included the neighboring parishes/counties, we would have missed many valuable sources of information.
If you're in a similar situation, we hope that the following information helps.
Illinois Plant is primarily located in Calcasieu Parish. A portion of Illinois Plant extends into Cameron 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 Calcasieu Parish: Beauregard, Cameron, Jefferson Davis, Newton (TX) & Orange (TX).
Below are the parishes/counties that are near Illinois Plant. For each of these parishes/counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Illinois Plant:
- Calcasieu Parish (The home parish of Illinois Plant)
- The following are listed by their distance from Illinois Plant, with the one closest to Illinois Plant listed first.
- Hayes
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
- Bell City
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Iowa
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
- Iowa is located in Calcasieu Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iowa
- Population from the 2020 Census: 3,109 people
- Greinwich Village
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
- Greinwich Village is located in Calcasieu Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greinwich Village
- Lake Charles
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Prien
(23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
- Prien is located in Calcasieu Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prien
- Ararat
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
- Ararat is located in Calcasieu Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ararat
- Moss Bluff
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
- Westlake
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
- Carlyss
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
- Carlyss is located in Calcasieu Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carlyss
- Sulphur
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
- Acadia Parish
- The following are listed by their distance from Illinois Plant, with the one closest to Illinois Plant listed first.
- Mermentau
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
- Morse
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
- Evangeline
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
- Egan
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
- Estherwood
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
- Allen Parish
- The following are listed by their distance from Illinois Plant, with the one closest to Illinois Plant listed first.
- Indian Village
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
- Indian Village is located in Allen Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Village
- Kinder
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
- Cameron Parish
- The following are listed by their distance from Illinois Plant, with the one closest to Illinois Plant listed first.
- Grand Chenier
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- Creole
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
- Creole is located in Cameron Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Creole
- Grand Lake
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
- Grand Lake is located in Cameron Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Lake
- Hackberry
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
- Cameron
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
- Jefferson Davis Parish
- The following are listed by their distance from Illinois Plant, with the one closest to Illinois Plant listed first.
- Lacassine
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
- Lake Arthur
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
- Welsh
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- Welsh is located in Jefferson Davis Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Welsh
- Population from the 2020 Census: 3,195 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Welsh <1>
- Roanoke
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
- Jennings
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
- Fenton
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
- Vermilion Parish
- Gueydan
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Illinois Plant, see our Parish-by-Parish Page for Illinois Plant.
Cemeteries Near Illinois Plant ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Illinois Plant.
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 Illinois Plant - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Illinois Plant covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Illinois Plant, with the one closest to Illinois Plant listed first.
- Lorrain Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Broussard Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
- Granger Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
- Foreman Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- Little Chenier Cemetery
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Pine Hill Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
- Andress Cove Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
- Grand Lake Cemetery
(18 miles [29 km] to the west)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Lake Cemetery
- The Grand Lake Cemetery has also been known as:
- Big Lake Cemetery
- Grand Lake Community Cemetery
- Hebert Cemetery
- Herbert Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #67747 <2>
- Duhon Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
- McCall Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- LeBleu Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
- Highland Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
- Continue List (57 more) ...
- La France Cemetery
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
- Circle Cemetery
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
- Calvary Cemetery
(20 miles [32.2 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.<3>
While we didn't find Illinois Plant in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Illinois Plant.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Illinois Plant, with the one closest to Illinois Plant listed first.
- Iowa
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
- Iowa is located in Calcasieu Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iowa
- Population from the 2020 Census: 3,109 people
- Chloe
(18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
- Chloe is located in Calcasieu Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chloe
- Grand Chenier
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- Lake Charles
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Grand Lake
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
- Grand Lake is located in Cameron Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Lake
- Mermentau
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
- Westlake
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
- Hackberry
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
- Estherwood
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
- Cameron
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Illinois Plant. See our List of 1890's Communities around Illinois Plant.
Newspapers Published in Illinois Plant ...
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 42 newspapers that have been published in the area around Illinois Plant.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Illinois Plant, 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 Illinois Plant.
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 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 Illinois Plant:
- Websites specific to Louisiana
- Pages specific to Calcasieu Parish
- Genealogy information for nearby parishes
- Acadia Parish
- Allen Parish
- Cameron Parish
- Jefferson Davis Parish
- Vermilion Parish
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Louisiana
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 Illinois Plant, 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 from Point A (ie- Illinois Plant) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |