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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 Ward (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 Ward. 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 northeast corner of their home parish. During their lives, most 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 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, we would have missed many valuable sources of information.

If you're in a similar situation, we hope that the following information helps.

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

  • Allen Parish     (The home parish of Ward)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ward, with the one closest to Ward listed first.
    • Canton
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Oakdale
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Bond
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Mab
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Mab is located in Allen Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mab
    • Marionville ‑ Historic
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Marionville is located in Allen Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marionville
    • Oberlin
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Elizabeth
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Pawnee
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Mittie
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Tenmile
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Reids
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Elder
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Elder is located in Allen Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elder
    • Cherry Grove
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Acadia Parish
    • Iota
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Avoyelles Parish
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ward, with the one closest to Ward listed first.
    • Gold Dust
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
    • Milburn
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Milburn is located in Avoyelles Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milburn
  • Beauregard Parish
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ward, with the one closest to Ward listed first.
    • Sugartown
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Dry Creek
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
  • Evangeline Parish
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ward, with the one closest to Ward listed first.
    • Pine Prairie
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Reddell
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Duralde
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Basile
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • 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>
    • Mamou
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • 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>
    • Turkey Creek
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Unatex
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Tyrone
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Tyrone is located in Evangeline Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tyrone
    • Bayou Chicot
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Ville Platte
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Chataignier
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Saint Landry
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
  • Jefferson Davis Parish
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ward, with the one closest to Ward listed first.
    • Elton
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • 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
      (28 miles [45.1 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>
  • Rapides Parish
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ward, with the one closest to Ward listed first.
    • Glenmora
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • McNary
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • McNary is located in Rapides Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McNary
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 206 people
    • Longleaf
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Forest Hill
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Elmer
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Hineston
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Loyd
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Cheneyville
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Lecompte
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Woodworth
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Saint Landry Parish
  • Vernon Parish

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

Cemeteries Near Ward ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Ward.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Ward, with the one closest to Ward 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>

While we didn't find Ward in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Ward.

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

  • Dido
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Melder
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
  • Cora
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Cora is located in Vernon Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cora
  • Elmer
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
  • Hineston
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
  • Prudhomme
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Prudhomme is located in Acadia Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prudhomme
  • Haas
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Haas is located in Avoyelles Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haas
  • Loyd
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)

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

Newspapers Published in Ward ...

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 23 newspapers that have been published in the area around Ward.

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

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with 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 Ward:

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 Ward, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Ward) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.