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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 Ponchatoula (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 Ponchatoula. 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 northeast 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 north.

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 north 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.

Ponchatoula is located in Tangipahoa 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 Tangipahoa Parish: Livingston, Saint Helena, Saint John the Baptist, Saint Tammany, Washington, Amite (MS) & Pike (MS).

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

  • Tangipahoa Parish     (The home parish of Ponchatoula)
  • Ascension Parish
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ponchatoula, with the one closest to Ponchatoula listed first.
    • Summerfield
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Summerfield is located in Ascension Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summerfield
    • Claybank
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Claybank is located in Ascension Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Claybank
    • Lake
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Lake is located in Ascension Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake
    • Galvez Town
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Galvez Town is located in Ascension Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galvez Town
    • Brignac
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Brignac is located in Ascension Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brignac
    • Saint Amant
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Galvez
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Galvez is located in Ascension Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galvez
    • Little Prairie
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Little Prairie is located in Ascension Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Prairie
    • Brittany
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Sorrento
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Weber City
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Weber City is located in Ascension Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weber City
    • Hobart
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Hobart is located in Ascension Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hobart
  • Livingston Parish
  • Saint Charles Parish
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ponchatoula, with the one closest to Ponchatoula listed first.
    • Gypsy
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Gypsy is located in Saint Charles Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gypsy
    • Killona
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Montz
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Montz is located in Saint Charles Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montz
    • Norco
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
    • Taft
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Taft is located in Saint Charles Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Taft
  • Saint Helena Parish
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ponchatoula, with the one closest to Ponchatoula listed first.
    • Montpelier
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Montpelier is located in Saint Helena Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montpelier
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 239 people
    • Pine Grove
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Greensburg
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Saint James Parish
    • Gramercy
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Saint John the Baptist Parish
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ponchatoula, with the one closest to Ponchatoula listed first.
    • Frenier
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Laplace
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Reserve
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Edgard
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Garyville
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Mount Airy
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Wallace
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Wallace is located in Saint John the Baptist Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wallace
  • Saint Tammany Parish
  • Washington Parish

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

Cemeteries Near Ponchatoula ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Ponchatoula.

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

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

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

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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Ponchatoula had a population of 459 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Ponchatoula had a population of 7,545 people.

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

  • Hammond
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Springfield
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Tickfaw
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Katie ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Katie is located in Tangipahoa Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Katie
  • Killian
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Manchac
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Manchac is located in Tangipahoa Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manchac
  • Clio
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Independence
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
  • Springville
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Springville is located in Livingston Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springville
  • Bayou Barbary
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Bayou Barbary is located in Livingston Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bayou Barbary
  • Starns
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Maurepas
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Madisonville
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Whitehall
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
      • Whitehall is located in Livingston Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whitehall
    • Colyell
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Colyell is located in Livingston Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colyell

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Ponchatoula ...

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 61 newspapers that have been published in the area around Ponchatoula.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Ponchatoula. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Ponchatoula and those printed in the larger area surrounding Ponchatoula.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 24 miles [38.6 km]<4> of Ponchatoula.

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 Ponchatoula:

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 Ponchatoula, 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Ponchatoula) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.