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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 Goodson (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 Goodson. 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.

Goodson is located in Polk 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 Polk County: Cedar, Dade, Dallas, Greene, Hickory & Saint Clair.

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

  • Polk County     (The home county of Goodson)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Goodson, with the one closest to Goodson listed first.
    • Polk
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Polk is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Polk
    • Halfway
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • Halfway is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halfway
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 179 people
    • Sentinel
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Bolivar
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Rondo
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Flemington
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Flemington is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flemington
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 146 people
    • Pleasant Hope
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Brighton
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Goodnight
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • Goodnight is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodnight
      • Estimated population in 2019: 18 people
      • Goodnight has also been known as:
      • Goodnight village
    • Tin Town
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Wishart
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Dunnegan
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Dunnegan is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dunnegan
    • Fair Play
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
  • Benton County
  • Camden County
  • Cedar County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Goodson, with the one closest to Goodson listed first.
    • Stockton
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Caplinger Mills
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
    • Umber View Heights
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Umber View Heights is located in Cedar County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Umber View Heights
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 49 people
  • Dade County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Goodson, with the one closest to Goodson listed first.
    • Bona
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Dadeville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Corry
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Dallas County
  • Greene County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Goodson, with the one closest to Goodson listed first.
    • Fair Grove
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Walnut Grove
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Phenix ‑ Historic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Willard
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Strafford
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Hickory County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Goodson, with the one closest to Goodson listed first.
    • Pittsburg
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Nemo
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Elkton
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Galmey
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Preston
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Hermitage
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Wheatland
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Weaubleau
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Cross Timbers
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Quincy
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Quincy is located in Hickory County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quincy
    • Avery
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
  • Laclede County
  • Saint Clair County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Goodson, with the one closest to Goodson listed first.
    • Collins
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Gerster
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Gerster is located in Saint Clair County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gerster
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 24 people
    • Vista
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Vista is located in Saint Clair County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vista
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 47 people
    • Cobb
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Webster County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Goodson, with the one closest to Goodson listed first.
    • Elkland
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Elkland is located in Webster County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elkland
    • Conklin
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Goodson ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Goodson.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Goodson, with the one closest to Goodson 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, Goodson had a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Polk
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Polk is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Polk
  • Halfway
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Halfway is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halfway
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 179 people
  • Sentinel
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Reynolds
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Reynolds is located in Dallas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reynolds
  • Ingalls ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Ingalls is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ingalls
  • Burns
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Burns is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burns
  • Louisburg
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Pittsburg
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Buffalo
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Bolivar
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Sunset
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Sunset is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset
  • Schofield
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Schofield is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Schofield
  • Continue List   (17 more) ...
    • Wood Hill
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Wood Hill is located in Dallas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wood Hill
    • Rondo
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Slagle
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Slagle is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Slagle

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

Newspapers Published in Goodson ...

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 42 newspapers that have been published in the area around Goodson.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Goodson, there are papers which were published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Goodson.

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 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 Goodson:

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