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The Commemorative Quarter for Louisiana





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 North 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 North 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 North 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 North Island: N. Island

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/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 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/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.

North Island is located in Cameron 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 Cameron Parish: Calcasieu, Jefferson Davis, Vermilion, Jefferson (TX) & Orange (TX).

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

  • Cameron Parish     (The home parish of North Island)
    • The following are listed by their distance from North Island, with the one closest to North Island listed first.
    • Grand Chenier
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Grand Chenier have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Chenier
      • Grand Chenier is located in Cameron Parish
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Grand Chenier <2>
    • Creole
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Creole. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Creole
      • Creole is located in Cameron Parish
  • Calcasieu Parish
    • The following are listed by their distance from North Island, with the one closest to North Island listed first.
    • Hayes
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hayes have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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 <2>
    • Bell City
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bell City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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 <2>
  • Jefferson Davis Parish
    • Lake Arthur
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • 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>
  • Vermilion Parish
    • Gueydan
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • 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>

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

Cemeteries Near North Island ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of North 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 North Island covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Circle Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Circle Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Circle Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • McCall Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Little Chenier Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Gueydon Cemetery
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Gueydon Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Gueydon Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Broussard Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Broussard Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Broussard Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Duhon Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Duhon Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Duhon Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • La Bove Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the La Bove Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the La Bove Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Sacred Heart Cemetery
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sacred Heart Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Sacred Heart Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located 2 miles [3.2 km]<5> to the east of Creole.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1258517 <4>
  • Suire Cemetery
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • 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.
  • Andress Cove Cemetery
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • 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.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Granger Cemetery
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Granger Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Granger Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Marceaux Cemetery
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • 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.
  • Continue List   (7 more) ...
    • Harrington Cemetery
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • 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
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • 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.
    • Hebert Cemetery
      (29 miles [46.7 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.

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

  • Grand Chenier
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Grand Chenier have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Chenier
    • Grand Chenier is located in Cameron Parish
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Grand Chenier <2>

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

Newspapers Published in North 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 2 newspapers that have been published in the area around North Island.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of North Island, there are papers which were published within 25 miles [40.2 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for North Island.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 North Island:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for North 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>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.
<5>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 drawn from Point A (ie- North Island) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in North Island. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 29.7136, Longitude: -92.7346       In this case, the coordinates for North Island have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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 North Island, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025