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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 Good Water (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 Good Water. 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 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.

Good Water is located in Iron 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 Iron County: Crawford, Dent, Madison, Reynolds, Saint Francois, Washington & Wayne.

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

  • Iron County     (The home county of Good Water)
  • Crawford County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Good Water, with the one closest to Good Water listed first.
    • Czar
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Dillard
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Davisville
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Cherryville
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Elaver
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Cook Station
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
      • Cook Station is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cook Station
    • Midland
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Midland is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Midland
    • Scotia
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Scotia is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scotia
    • Wesco
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Wesco is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wesco
    • Sankey ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Sankey is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sankey
    • Steelville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Leasburg
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Cuba
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Dent County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Good Water, with the one closest to Good Water listed first.
    • Boss
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Boss is located in Dent County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boss
    • Sligo
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Bunker
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Gila
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Doss
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Howes
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Howes is located in Dent County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Howes
    • Salem
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
  • Reynolds County
  • Saint Francois County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Good Water, with the one closest to Good Water listed first.
    • Bismarck
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Iron Mountain Lake
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Iron Mountain Lake is located in Saint Francois County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iron Mountain Lake
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 747 people
    • Wortham
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Leadwood
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Leadwood is located in Saint Francois County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leadwood
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,158 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Leadwood <1>
    • Mineral City
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Mineral City is located in Saint Francois County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mineral City
    • Elvins
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Elvins is located in Saint Francois County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elvins
    • Rivermines
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Rivermines is located in Saint Francois County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rivermines
    • Settletown
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Desloge
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Desloge is located in Saint Francois County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Desloge
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,900 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Desloge <1>
    • Doe Run
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Doe Run is located in Saint Francois County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Doe Run
    • Flat River
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Flat River is located in Saint Francois County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flat River
    • Hamilton Town
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Hamilton Town is located in Saint Francois County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hamilton Town
    • Bonne Terre
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Washington County

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

Cemeteries Near Good Water ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Good Water.

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 Good Water - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Abbott Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
  • Crocker Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
  • Chandler Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Neals Creek Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Turner Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • McClain Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Joseph Chapel Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Jinkerson Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Hedrick Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Richards Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Thompson Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Antioch Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (284 more) ...
    • Stricklin Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Terry Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Maple Grove Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)

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 in 1895, Good Water had a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Czar
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Goodland ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Goodland is located in Iron County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodland
  • Red Point
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Red Point is located in Iron County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Point
  • Dillard
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Sunlight
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Palmer
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Palmer is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palmer
  • Davisville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Oates
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Edgehill
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Edgehill is located in Reynolds County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edgehill
  • Belgrade
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Berryman
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Berryman is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berryman
  • Howes Mill
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Howes Mill is located in Dent County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Howes Mill
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in Good Water ...

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 61 newspapers that have been published in the area around Good Water.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Good Water, there are papers which were published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Good Water.

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 Good Water:

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 Good Water, 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Good Water) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.