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 Wards Ferry (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 Wards Ferry. 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 Wards Ferry ...
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.
While the name of this community is Wards Ferry, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Wards Ferry may originally have been Ward's Ferry.
Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Wards Ferry might be written as Ward Ferry.
You might be interested in other communities that are also named Wards Ferry. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Wards Ferry.
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 southwest corner of their home parish. During their lives, most doctors were in the next parish to the west. 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 west 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.
Wards Ferry is located in Morehouse 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 Morehouse Parish: Ashley (AR), Chicot (AR), Union (AR), Ouachita, Richland, Union & West Carroll.
Below are the parishes/counties that are near Wards Ferry. For each of these parishes/counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Wards Ferry:
- Morehouse Parish (The home parish of Wards Ferry)
- The following are listed by their distance from Wards Ferry, with the one closest to Wards Ferry listed first.
- Brodnax ‑ Historic
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Brodnax is located in Morehouse Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brodnax
- Bastrop
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
- Mer Rouge
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Bonita
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
- Collinston
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Jones
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
- Windsor
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
- Windsor is located in Morehouse Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Windsor
- Oak Ridge
(18 miles [29 km] to the south)
- Ouachita Parish
- The following are listed by their distance from Wards Ferry, with the one closest to Wards Ferry listed first.
- Sterlington
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
- Fairbanks
(18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
- Swartz
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
- Leisure Village
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
- Leisure Village is located in Ouachita Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leisure Village
- Northpark Village
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
- Northpark Village is located in Ouachita Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Northpark Village
- Spanish City
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
- Spanish City is located in Ouachita Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spanish City
- Monroe
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
- West Monroe
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
- West Monroe is located in Ouachita Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Monroe
- Population from the 2020 Census: 12,086 people
- Richland Parish
- The following are listed by their distance from Wards Ferry, with the one closest to Wards Ferry listed first.
- Start
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
- Rayville
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
- Union Parish
- The following are listed by their distance from Wards Ferry, with the one closest to Wards Ferry listed first.
- Ouachita City
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
- Ouachita City is located in Union Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ouachita City
- Haile
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
- Haile is located in Union Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haile
- Marion
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
- Wilhite
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
- Wilhite is located in Union Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilhite
- Oakland
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
- Oakland is located in Union Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakland
- West Carroll Parish
- The following are listed by their distance from Wards Ferry, with the one closest to Wards Ferry listed first.
- Fiske
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
- Fiske is located in West Carroll Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fiske
- Forest
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
- Pioneer
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
- Oak Grove
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
- Darnell
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
- Darnell is located in West Carroll Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Darnell
- Epps
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
- Epps is located in West Carroll Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Epps
- Population from the 2020 Census: 809 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Epps <2>
- Ashley County (AR)
- The following are listed by their distance from Wards Ferry, with the one closest to Wards Ferry listed first.
- Elon ‑ Historic
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
- Elon is located in Ashley County (AR)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elon
- Meridian
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
- Meridian is located in Ashley County (AR)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meridian
- Crossett
(18 miles [29 km] to the north)
- West Crossett
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
- West Crossett is located in Ashley County (AR)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Crossett
- North Crossett
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
- North Crossett is located in Ashley County (AR)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Crossett
- Wilmot
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
- Wilmot is located in Ashley County (AR)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilmot
- Population from the 2020 Census: 483 people
- Hamburg
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
- Parkdale
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
- Bradley County (AR)
- Blanchton
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
- Blanchton is located in Bradley County (AR)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blanchton
- Union County (AR)
- The following are listed by their distance from Wards Ferry, with the one closest to Wards Ferry listed first.
- Felsenthal
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
- Felsenthal is located in Union County (AR)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Felsenthal
- Population from the 2020 Census: 139 people
- Huttig
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Huttig is located in Union County (AR)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huttig
- Population from the 2020 Census: 526 people
- Bolding
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
- Bolding is located in Union County (AR)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bolding
- Lapile
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
- Lapile is located in Union County (AR)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lapile
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Wards Ferry, see our Parish-by-Parish Page for Wards Ferry.
Cemeteries Near Wards Ferry ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Wards Ferry.
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 Wards Ferry - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Wards Ferry covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Wards Ferry, with the one closest to Wards Ferry listed first.
- Neamon Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
- Kelly Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
- Bell Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Morehouse Memorial Park
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Cooper Lake Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Dunmore Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Bastrop City Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Mer Rouge Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Causey Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Christ Church Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Stevenson Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
- Continue List (138 more) ...
- Carter Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
- Courney Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
- Anderson Chapel Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
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.<4>
While we didn't find Wards Ferry in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Wards Ferry.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Wards Ferry, with the one closest to Wards Ferry listed first.
- Brodnax ‑ Historic
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Brodnax is located in Morehouse Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brodnax
- Causey ‑ Historic
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
- Causey is located in Morehouse Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Causey
- Bastrop
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
- Mer Rouge
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Cleora ‑ Historic
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
- Cleora is located in Morehouse Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cleora
- Bonita
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
- Elon ‑ Historic
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
- Elon is located in Ashley County (AR)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elon
- Jones
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
- Ouachita City
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
- Ouachita City is located in Union Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ouachita City
- Doss ‑ Historic
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
- Doss is located in Morehouse Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Doss
- De Siard
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
- De Siard is located in Ouachita Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for De Siard
- Oak Ridge
(18 miles [29 km] to the south)
- Continue List (15 more) ...
- Marion
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
- Colsons ‑ Historic
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
- Colsons is located in Union Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colsons
- Hamburg
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Wards Ferry. See our List of 1890's Communities around Wards Ferry.
Newspapers Published in Wards Ferry ...
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 21 newspapers that have been published in the area around Wards Ferry.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Wards Ferry, there are papers which were published within 24 miles [38.6 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Wards Ferry.
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 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 Wards Ferry:
- Websites specific to Louisiana
- Pages specific to Morehouse Parish
- Genealogy information for nearby parishes
- Ouachita Parish
- Richland Parish
- Union Parish
- West Carroll Parish
- Ashley County
- Bradley County
- Union County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Louisiana
Footnotes ...
| <1> | It's generally believed that possessive apostrophes are removed to prevent confusion on maps where the apostrophe may be confused with a cartographic symbol. While this is generally true, it's not uncommon to find possessive apostrophes in administrative names (such as towns or counties). |
| <2> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <3> | 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. |
| <4> | 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 Wards Ferry, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <5> | 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- Wards Ferry) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |