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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 Blackburn (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 Blackburn. 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 Counties ...

When searching for family records, we have frequently made the mistake of not checking the neighboring counties.

For example, we have great-grandparents who lived in the northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the west. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the north.

So when searching for records, we had our best success by looking in neighboring counties instead of the county in which they lived:  their home county contained property and probate records; the county to the west contained birth and death records; the county to the north contained their burial records. If we hadn't included the neighboring counties, we would have missed many valuable sources of information.

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

Blackburn is primarily located in Saline County. A portion of Blackburn extends into Lafayette County.

To see how the shape of Missouri's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Saline County: Carroll, Chariton, Cooper, Howard, Johnson, Lafayette & Pettis.

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

  • Saline County     (The home county of Blackburn)
  • Carroll County
  • Chariton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Blackburn, with the one closest to Blackburn listed first.
    • Grand River City ‑ Historic
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Grand River City is located in Chariton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand River City
    • Missouri Village
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Missouri Village is located in Chariton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Missouri Village
    • Brunswick
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Namrash ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Namrash is located in Chariton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Namrash
  • Cooper County
  • Howard County
  • Johnson County
  • Lafayette County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Blackburn, with the one closest to Blackburn listed first.
    • Alma
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Alma is located in Lafayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alma
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 385 people
    • Waverly
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Waverly is located in Lafayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waverly
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 846 people
    • Corder
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Emma
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Concordia
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Hodge
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Aullville
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Aullville is located in Lafayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aullville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 102 people
    • Dover
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Higginsville
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Page City
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
      • Page City is located in Lafayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Page City
    • Mayview
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Lexington
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
  • Pettis County
  • Ray County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Blackburn, with the one closest to Blackburn listed first.
    • Hardin
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Hardin is located in Ray County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hardin
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 531 people
    • Lakeview
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Lakeview is located in Ray County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview
    • Rockingham
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Morton
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Henrietta
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Henrietta is located in Ray County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Henrietta
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 355 people
    • Richmond
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Camden
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)

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

Cemeteries Near Blackburn ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Blackburn.

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

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

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

  • Blackburn Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • Maple Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Corder Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Pleasant Grove Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Catron Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Lutheran Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Allen Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Waverly Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Gross Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Salt Springs Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Little Grove Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Grand Pass Community Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (171 more) ...
    • Mt. Nebo Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Holy Cross Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Goshen Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)

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.<2>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Blackburn had a population of 372 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Blackburn had a population of 237 people.

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

  • Elmwood
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Elmwood is located in Saline County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elmwood
  • Alma
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Alma is located in Lafayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alma
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 385 people
  • Mount Leonard
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Mount Leonard is located in Saline County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Leonard
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 86 people
  • Waverly
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Waverly is located in Lafayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waverly
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 846 people
  • Salt Springs
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Salt Springs is located in Saline County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salt Springs
  • Grand Pass
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Malta Bend
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Corder
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Concordia
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Emma
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • Cretcher
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Sweet Springs
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Aullville
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Aullville is located in Lafayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aullville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 102 people
    • Hodge
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Blosser ‑ Historic
      (12 miles [19.3 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 Blackburn. See our List of 1890's Communities around Blackburn.

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Blackburn ...

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 88 newspapers that have been published in the area around Blackburn.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Blackburn. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Blackburn and those printed in the larger area surrounding Blackburn.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3> of Blackburn.

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 Blackburn:

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>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 Blackburn, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Blackburn) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.