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 Pecan 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 Pecan 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 Pecan 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 Pecan Island: Pecan 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 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 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.

Pecan 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 Pecan Island. For each of these parishes, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Pecan Island:

• Vermilion Parish     (The home parish of Pecan Island)
  • The following are listed by their distance from Pecan Island, with the one closest to Pecan Island listed first.
  • Intracoastal City
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • 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>
  • Gueydan
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • 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>
  • Kaplan
    (26 miles [41.8 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
    (27 miles [43.5 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
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Abbeville
    • Abbeville is located in Vermilion Parish
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 11,927 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Abbeville <2>
  • Youngs
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Youngs
    • Youngs is located in Vermilion Parish
  • Meaux
    (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meaux
    • Meaux is located in Vermilion Parish

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

Cemeteries Near Pecan Island ...

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

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

• Suire Cemetery
  (16 miles [25.7 km] 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
  (17 miles [27.4 km] 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
  (20 miles [32.2 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.
• Broussard Cemetery
  (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
  • 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.
• Briggs Cemetery
  (22 miles [35.4 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
  (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
  • 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.
• Marceaux Cemetery
  (23 miles [37 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.
• Badon Cemetery
  (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Badon Cemetery
• Le Maire Cemetery
  (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
  • 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
  (24 miles [38.6 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.
• Circle Cemetery
  (24 miles [38.6 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.
• Gueydon Cemetery
  (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
  • 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.
• Continue List   (20 more) ...
  • Bancker Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • 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.
  • Hebert Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 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
    (25 miles [40.2 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.

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

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

• Henry
  (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
  • 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
• Perry
  (27 miles [43.5 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
  (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Abbeville
  • Abbeville is located in Vermilion Parish
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 11,927 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Abbeville <2>

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

Newspapers Published in Pecan 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 12 newspapers that have been published in the area around Pecan Island.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Pecan Island, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Pecan Island.

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 Pecan Island:

• Websites specific to Louisiana
  • Jump to Cyndi's List
  • Jump to Family Search
  • Jump to Genealogy Trails
  • Website for the //www.sos.la.gov/HistoricalResources//Historical Resources/

• Pages specific to Vermilion Parish
  • Jump to Cyndi's List
  • Jump to Family Search
  • Jump to Genealogy Trails

• Genealogy information for nearby parishes

• Cemetery Information and Directories for Louisiana
  • Cemetery Junction: Cemeteries of Louisiana
  • Cyndi's List
  • Cemeteries of Louisiana
  • Cemeteries of Vermilion Parish
  • FamilySearch.org: Cemeteries of Louisiana
  • Find-A-Grave: Home Page
  • Interment.net
  • Cemeteries of Louisiana
  • Cemeteries of Vermilion Parish

Off-the-Road Links ...

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

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