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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 Lauderdale (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 Lauderdale. 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 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.

Lauderdale is located in Allen 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 Allen Parish: Acadia, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Evangeline, Jefferson Davis, Rapides & Vernon.

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

  • Allen Parish     (The home parish of Lauderdale)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lauderdale, with the one closest to Lauderdale listed first.
    • Coverdale
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Coverdale is located in Allen Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coverdale
    • Kinder
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Elder
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Elder is located in Allen Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elder
    • Oberlin
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Le Blanc
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Le Blanc is located in Allen Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Le Blanc
    • Indian Village
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
      • Indian Village is located in Allen Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Village
    • Canton
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Reeves
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Bond
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Mittie
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Ward
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Cherry Grove
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
  • Acadia Parish
  • Beauregard Parish
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lauderdale, with the one closest to Lauderdale listed first.
    • Dry Creek
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Fayette ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Fayette is located in Beauregard Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fayette
    • Ragley
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Sugartown
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Longville
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
  • Calcasieu Parish
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lauderdale, with the one closest to Lauderdale listed first.
    • Iowa
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Hayes
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Bell City
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Moss Bluff
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Ararat
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Evangeline Parish
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lauderdale, with the one closest to Lauderdale listed first.
    • Basile
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
      • Basile is located in Evangeline Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Basile
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,791 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Basile <1>
    • Unatex
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Tyrone
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • Tyrone is located in Evangeline Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tyrone
    • Duralde
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Mamou
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Mamou is located in Evangeline Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mamou
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,077 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mamou <1>
    • Reddell
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Chataignier
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Pine Prairie
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Jefferson Davis Parish
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lauderdale, with the one closest to Lauderdale listed first.
    • Elton
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Elton is located in Jefferson Davis Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,134 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elton <1>
    • Fenton
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Fenton is located in Jefferson Davis Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fenton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 349 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fenton <1>
    • Roanoke
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Welsh
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Jennings
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Lacassine
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Lake Arthur
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
  • Saint Landry Parish
  • Vernon Parish

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

Cemeteries Near Lauderdale ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Lauderdale.

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

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

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

  • Liberty Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • St. Lukes Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • St. Peters Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Green Oak Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • China Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Kinder Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • McGee Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Chretien Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Cole Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Sonnier Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Lyles Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • LaBleu Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (126 more) ...

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 Lauderdale in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Lauderdale.

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

  • Cartville ‑ Historic
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Cartville is located in Acadia Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cartville
  • Iowa
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Mermentau
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
  • Chloe
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Chloe is located in Calcasieu Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chloe
  • Prudhomme
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Prudhomme is located in Acadia Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prudhomme
  • Estherwood
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)

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

Newspapers Published in Lauderdale ...

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 21 newspapers that have been published in the area around Lauderdale.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Lauderdale, 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 Lauderdale.

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 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 Lauderdale:

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 Lauderdale, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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 from Point A (ie- Lauderdale) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.