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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 Foster (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 Foster. 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 doctors and hospitals 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.

Foster is located in Bates 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 Bates County: Linn (KS), Miami (KS), Cass, Henry, Saint Clair & Vernon.

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

  • Bates County     (The home county of Foster)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Foster, with the one closest to Foster listed first.
    • New Home
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Nyhart
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Worland
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Hume
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Hume is located in Bates County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hume
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 315 people
    • Amoret
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Rich Hill
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Butler
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Amsterdam
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Passaic
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Passaic is located in Bates County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Passaic
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 32 people
    • Merwin
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Burdett
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Adrian
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Prairie City
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
      • Prairie City is located in Bates County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie City
  • Cass County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Foster, with the one closest to Foster listed first.
    • Main City
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Main City is located in Cass County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Main City
    • Archie
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Austin
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Henry County
    • Montrose
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
  • Saint Clair County
    • Appleton City
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
  • Vernon County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Foster, with the one closest to Foster listed first.
    • Metz
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Stotesbury
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
      • Stotesbury is located in Vernon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stotesbury
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 17 people
    • Horton
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Horton is located in Vernon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horton
    • Richards
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • Richards is located in Vernon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richards
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 94 people
    • Temple ‑ Historic
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Temple is located in Vernon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Temple
    • Deerfield
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Deerfield is located in Vernon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deerfield
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 77 people
    • Nevada
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Schell City
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Walker
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Walker is located in Vernon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walker
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 253 people
    • Harwood
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Harwood is located in Vernon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harwood
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 45 people
    • Moundville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Milo
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Milo is located in Vernon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milo
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 86 people
  • Bourbon County (KS)
  • Linn County (KS)
  • Miami County (KS)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Foster, with the one closest to Foster listed first.
    • Jingo
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • New Lancaster
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Fontana
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Fontana is located in Miami County (KS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fontana
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 242 people
    • Block
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Foster ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Foster.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Foster, with the one closest to Foster 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.<2>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Foster had a population of 513 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Foster had a population of 111 people.

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

  • Rucker
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Rucker is located in Bates County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rucker
  • New Home
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Nyhart
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Worland
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Sprague
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Sprague is located in Bates County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sprague
  • Hume
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Hume is located in Bates County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hume
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 315 people
  • Cornland ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Cornland is located in Bates County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cornland
  • Virginia
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Virginia is located in Bates County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Virginia
  • Athol
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Athol is located in Bates County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Athol
  • Amoret
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Mulberry
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Mulberry is located in Bates County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mulberry
  • Rich Hill
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Wolfe ‑ Historic
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Wolfe is located in Vernon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wolfe
    • Trading Post
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Trading Post is located in Linn County (KS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trading Post
    • Pleasanton
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Foster ...

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 85 newspapers that have been published in the area around Foster.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

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

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 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 Foster:

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 Foster, 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Foster) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.