RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Louisiana >> Saint Mary Parish >> South Bend >> Genealogy HelperIndex...

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 South Bend (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 South Bend. 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 South Bend ...

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.

For example, a typical abbreviation for South Bend: S. Bend

You might be interested in other communities that are also named South Bend. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for South Bend.

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 northwest corner of their home parish. During their lives, most hospitals and 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.

South Bend is located in Saint Mary 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 Saint Mary Parish: Iberia, Saint Martin & Terrebonne.

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

  • Saint Mary Parish     (The home parish of South Bend)
    • The following are listed by their distance from South Bend, with the one closest to South Bend listed first.
    • Ellerslie
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Ellerslie is located in Saint Mary Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ellerslie
    • Luke Landing
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Luke Landing is located in Saint Mary Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Luke Landing
    • Midway
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Midway is located in Saint Mary Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Midway
    • Todd
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Todd is located in Saint Mary Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Todd
    • Bayou Sale
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Bayou Sale is located in Saint Mary Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bayou Sale
    • Maria
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Maria is located in Saint Mary Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maria
    • Garden City
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Ricohoc
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Ricohoc is located in Saint Mary Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ricohoc
    • Franklin
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Calumet
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Calumet is located in Saint Mary Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Calumet
    • Centerville
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Verdunville
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Verdunville is located in Saint Mary Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Verdunville
    • Caffery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
      • Caffery is located in Saint Mary Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Caffery
  • Assumption Parish
    • The following are listed by their distance from South Bend, with the one closest to South Bend listed first.
    • Belle River
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Belle River is located in Assumption Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belle River
    • Ursa
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Ursa is located in Assumption Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ursa
    • Attakapas Landing
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Attakapas Landing is located in Assumption Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Attakapas Landing
    • Pierre Part
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Iberia Parish
    • The following are listed by their distance from South Bend, with the one closest to South Bend listed first.
    • Jeanerette
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Patoutville
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Patoutville is located in Iberia Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Patoutville
    • Lydia
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Avery Island
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Morbihan
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Morbihan is located in Iberia Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Morbihan
    • New Iberia
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Saint Martin Parish
    • The following are listed by their distance from South Bend, with the one closest to South Bend listed first.
    • Stephenville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Stephenville is located in Saint Martin Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stephenville
    • Bayou Geneve
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Bayou Geneve is located in Saint Martin Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bayou Geneve

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

Cemeteries Near South Bend ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of South Bend.

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 South Bend - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • South Bend Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Midway Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • North Bend Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Gratt Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Douglas Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Shadyside - Fairfax Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Little Zion Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Perpetual Park Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
  • Franklin Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
  • Stirling Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
  • Trinity UMC Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
  • Iberts Memorial Park
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (27 more) ...
    • Palo Alto Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • St. Joseph Catholic Church Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for St. Joseph Catholic Church Cemetery
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the St. Joseph Catholic Church Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located in Patterson.
      • The St. Joseph Catholic Church Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Patterson Catholic Cemetery
      • St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2143457 <2>
    • Israelite Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)

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

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

  • Bayou Sale
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Bayou Sale is located in Saint Mary Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bayou Sale
  • Ricohoc
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Ricohoc is located in Saint Mary Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ricohoc
  • Franklin
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
  • Irish Bend
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Irish Bend is located in Saint Mary Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Irish Bend
  • Patterson
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
  • Baldwin
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
  • Glencoe
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Glencoe is located in Saint Mary Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glencoe
  • Charenton
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
  • Cypremort
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Cypremort is located in Saint Mary Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cypremort
  • Sorrel
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Sorrel is located in Saint Mary Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sorrel
  • Berwick
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
  • Morgan City
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Jeanerette
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Patoutville
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Patoutville is located in Iberia Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Patoutville
    • Ramos
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Ramos is located in Saint Mary Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ramos

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

Newspapers Published in South Bend ...

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 27 newspapers that have been published in the area around South Bend.

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

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 either 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 South Bend:

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 South Bend, 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 drawn from Point A (ie- South Bend) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.