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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 Jennings (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 Jennings. 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 Jennings ...

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.

While the name of this city is Jennings, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Jennings may originally have been Jenning's.

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 southeast corner of their home parish. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors 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 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, we would have missed many valuable sources of information.

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

Jennings is located in Jefferson Davis Parish and is the Parish Seat.

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 Jefferson Davis Parish: Acadia, Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, Evangeline & Vermilion.

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

  • Jefferson Davis Parish     (The home parish of Jennings)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Jennings, with the one closest to Jennings listed first.
    • Roanoke
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Roanoke have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roanoke
      • Roanoke is located in Jefferson Davis Parish
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Roanoke <3>
    • Welsh
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Welsh have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Welsh
      • Welsh is located in Jefferson Davis Parish
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,195 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Welsh <3>
    • Lake Arthur
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lake Arthur have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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 <3>
    • Lacassine
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lacassine have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lacassine
      • Lacassine is located in Jefferson Davis Parish
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lacassine <3>
    • Elton
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elton
      • Elton is located in Jefferson Davis Parish
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,134 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elton <3>
    • Fenton
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fenton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fenton
      • Fenton is located in Jefferson Davis Parish
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 349 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fenton <3>
  • Acadia Parish
    • The following are listed by their distance from Jennings, with the one closest to Jennings listed first.
    • Evangeline
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Evangeline have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evangeline
      • Evangeline is located in Acadia Parish
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Evangeline <3>
    • Mermentau
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mermentau have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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 <3>
    • Egan
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Estherwood
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Estherwood have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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 <3>
    • Morse
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Morse have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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 <3>
    • Iota
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Ellis
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Crowley
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Ebenezer
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Rayne
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Branch
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Branch have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Branch
      • Branch is located in Acadia Parish
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Branch <3>
    • Castille
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Castille. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Castille
      • Castille is located in Acadia Parish
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Castille
      • From Jennings to Castille
    • Higginbotham
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
  • Allen Parish
    • The following are listed by their distance from Jennings, with the one closest to Jennings listed first.
    • Coverdale
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Coverdale have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coverdale
      • Coverdale is located in Allen Parish
    • Lauderdale
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Lauderdale. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lauderdale
      • Lauderdale is located in Allen Parish
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Lauderdale
      • From Jennings to Lauderdale
    • Kinder
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kinder have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kinder
      • Kinder is located in Allen Parish
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,324 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Kinder <3>
    • Indian Village
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Indian Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Village
      • Indian Village is located in Allen Parish
    • Elder
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elder have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elder
      • Elder is located in Allen Parish
    • Le Blanc
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Le Blanc have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Le Blanc
      • Le Blanc is located in Allen Parish
    • Oberlin
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Reeves
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Reeves have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reeves
      • Reeves is located in Allen Parish
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 243 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Reeves <3>
  • Calcasieu Parish
    • The following are listed by their distance from Jennings, with the one closest to Jennings listed first.
    • Hayes
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hayes have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hayes
      • Hayes is located in Calcasieu Parish
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hayes <3>
    • Bell City
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bell City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bell City
      • Bell City is located in Calcasieu Parish
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bell City <3>
    • Iowa
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
  • Evangeline Parish
    • The following are listed by their distance from Jennings, with the one closest to Jennings listed first.
    • Basile
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Basile have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Basile
      • Basile is located in Evangeline Parish
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,791 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Basile <3>
    • Unatex
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Unatex. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Unatex
      • Unatex is located in Evangeline Parish
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Unatex
      • From Jennings to Unatex
    • Tyrone
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tyrone have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tyrone
      • Tyrone is located in Evangeline Parish
    • Duralde
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
  • Lafayette Parish
  • Saint Landry Parish
  • Vermilion Parish
    • The following are listed by their distance from Jennings, with the one closest to Jennings listed first.
    • Gueydan
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gueydan have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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 <3>
    • Indian Bayou
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Andrew
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Kaplan
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Leroy
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)

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

Cemeteries Near Jennings ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Jennings.

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

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

  • Calvary Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Calvary Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Calvary Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Greenwood Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Greenwood Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Greenwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Miller Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Miller Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Miller Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Indian Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Indian Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Indian Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • McFarlain Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the McFarlain Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the McFarlain Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Leckett Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Leckett Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Leckett Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Riverside Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Riverside Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Riverside Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Doucet Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Quebodaux Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Quebodaux Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Quebodaux Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Gatte Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Gatte Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Gatte Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Little Mamou Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Little Mamou Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Little Mamou Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Jules Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (104 more) ...
    • Andress Cove Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Andress Cove Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Andress Cove Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • LeBlanc Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Istre Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Istre Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Istre Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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.<6>

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

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

  • Mermentau
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mermentau have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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 <3>
  • Estherwood
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Estherwood have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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 <3>
  • Cartville ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cartville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cartville
    • Cartville is located in Acadia Parish
  • Crowley
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
  • Iowa
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
  • Rayne
    (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
  • Indian Bayou
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
  • Prudhomme
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Prudhomme have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prudhomme
    • Prudhomme is located in Acadia Parish
  • Chloe
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chloe have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chloe
    • Chloe is located in Calcasieu Parish
  • Duson
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
  • Ridge
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
  • Church Point
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Church Point have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Church Point
    • Church Point is located in Acadia Parish
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,367 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Church Point <3>

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

Newspapers Published in Jennings ...

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 Jennings.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Jennings, there are papers which were published within 26 miles [41.8 km]<7>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Jennings.

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 professional and volunteer 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 Jennings:

The official website for Jennings: www.cityofjennings.com/

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

Footnotes ...

<1>It's generally believed that possessive apostrophes are removed to prevent confusion on maps where the apostrophe may be confused with a cartographic symbol. While this is generally true, it's not uncommon to find possessive apostrophes in administrative names (such as towns or counties).
<2>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.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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.
<5>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.
<6>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 Jennings, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<7>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Jennings) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Jennings. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.2235, Longitude: -92.6566    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025