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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 Dumas (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 Dumas. 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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.

Dumas is located in Clark 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 Clark County: Lee (IA), Van Buren (IA), Hancock (IL), Knox, Lewis & Scotland.

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

  • Clark County     (The home county of Dumas)
  • Knox County
  • Lewis County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dumas, with the one closest to Dumas listed first.
    • Williamstown
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Williamstown is located in Lewis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Williamstown
    • Canton
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Monticello
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Monticello is located in Lewis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monticello
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 92 people
    • New Court Village
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • New Court Village is located in Lewis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Court Village
  • Scotland County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dumas, with the one closest to Dumas listed first.
    • Granger
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
      • Granger is located in Scotland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Granger
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 34 people
    • Arbela
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Gorin
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Gorin is located in Scotland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gorin
    • South Gorin
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Memphis
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
  • Des Moines County (IA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dumas, with the one closest to Dumas listed first.
    • Danville
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Danville is located in Des Moines County (IA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Danville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 896 people
    • Middletown
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Patterson
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Patterson is located in Des Moines County (IA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Patterson
  • Henry County (IA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dumas, with the one closest to Dumas listed first.
    • Hillsboro
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Hillsboro is located in Henry County (IA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillsboro
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 173 people
    • Salem
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Salem is located in Henry County (IA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salem
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 380 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Salem <1>
    • Lowell
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Oakland Mills
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Westwood
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Westwood is located in Henry County (IA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westwood
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 107 people
    • New London
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Jefferson County (IA)
  • Lee County (IA)
  • Van Buren County (IA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dumas, with the one closest to Dumas listed first.
    • Farmington
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Bonaparte
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Mount Sterling
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Keosauqua
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Mount Zion
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Mount Zion is located in Van Buren County (IA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Zion
    • Cantril
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Cantril is located in Van Buren County (IA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cantril
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 208 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cantril <1>
    • Stockport
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Kilbourn
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Winchester
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Winchester is located in Van Buren County (IA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winchester
    • Birmingham
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Birmingham is located in Van Buren County (IA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Birmingham
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 423 people
    • Milton
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Milton is located in Van Buren County (IA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 400 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Milton <1>
  • Adams County (IL)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dumas, with the one closest to Dumas listed first.
    • Meyer
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Lima
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Hancock County (IL)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dumas, with the one closest to Dumas listed first.
    • Nauvoo
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Hamilton
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Hamilton is located in Hancock County (IL)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hamilton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,673 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hamilton <1>
    • Warsaw
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Warsaw is located in Hancock County (IL)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warsaw
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,456 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Warsaw <1>
    • Niota
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Powellton
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
      • Powellton is located in Hancock County (IL)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Powellton
    • Elvaston
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Sutter
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Pontoosuc
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Pontoosuc is located in Hancock County (IL)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pontoosuc
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 132 people
    • Adrian
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Colusa
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Ferris
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Ferris is located in Hancock County (IL)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ferris
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 143 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ferris <1>
    • Dallas City
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Basco
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Basco is located in Hancock County (IL)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Basco
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 88 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Basco <1>

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

Cemeteries Near Dumas ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Dumas.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Dumas, with the one closest to Dumas 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.<4>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Dumas had a post office and railroad service.

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

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

Newspapers Published in Dumas ...

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 150 newspapers that have been published in the area around Dumas.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Dumas, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Dumas.

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 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 Dumas:

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>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- Dumas) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Dumas, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.