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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 Hamilton (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 Hamilton. 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 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.

Hamilton is located in Caldwell 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 Caldwell County: Carroll, Clinton, Daviess, DeKalb, Livingston & Ray.

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

  • Caldwell County     (The home county of Hamilton)
  • Carroll County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hamilton, with the one closest to Hamilton listed first.
    • Latoh ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Latoh is located in Carroll County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Latoh
    • Stet
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Mandeville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Asper ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Asper is located in Carroll County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Asper
  • Clay County
  • Clinton County
  • Daviess County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hamilton, with the one closest to Hamilton listed first.
    • Gallatin
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Altamont
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Altamont is located in Daviess County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Altamont
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 201 people
    • Mabel
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Winston
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Lock Springs
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Lock Springs is located in Daviess County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lock Springs
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 56 people
    • Alta Vista ‑ Historic
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Jameson
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Jamesport
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Pattonsburg
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Coffey
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Coffey is located in Daviess County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coffey
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 163 people
    • Bancroft
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
  • DeKalb County
  • Gentry County
    • McFall
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Grundy County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hamilton, with the one closest to Hamilton listed first.
    • Hickory Creek
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Brimson
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Brimson is located in Grundy County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brimson
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 59 people
  • Harrison County
    • Gilman City
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
  • Livingston County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hamilton, with the one closest to Hamilton listed first.
    • Mooresville
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
      • Mooresville is located in Livingston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mooresville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 92 people
    • Ludlow
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Dawn
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Utica
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
      • Utica is located in Livingston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Utica
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 250 people
    • Chillicothe
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Farmersville
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Avalon
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
    • Chula
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Chula is located in Livingston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chula
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 204 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Chula <1>
  • Ray County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hamilton, with the one closest to Hamilton listed first.
    • Georgeville
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Elmira
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
      • Elmira is located in Ray County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elmira
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 52 people
    • Knoxville
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Ovid ‑ Historic
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Lawson
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Excelsior Estates
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Excelsior Estates is located in Ray County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Excelsior Estates
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 146 people
    • Rayville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Crystal Lakes
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Crystal Lakes is located in Ray County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crystal Lakes
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 352 people
    • Homestead
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Homestead is located in Ray County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homestead
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 184 people
    • Morton
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Wood Heights
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Wood Heights is located in Ray County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wood Heights
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 700 people
    • Rockingham
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Hamilton ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Hamilton.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Hamilton, with the one closest to Hamilton 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.<3>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Hamilton had a population of 1,641 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Hamilton had a population of 1,691 people.

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

  • Nettleton
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Kidder
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Kingston
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Kingston is located in Caldwell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingston
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 332 people
  • Bonanza ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Bonanza is located in Caldwell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bonanza
  • Gould Farm
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Kerr
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Kerr is located in Caldwell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kerr
  • Breckenridge
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • Mirabile
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Mirabile is located in Caldwell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mirabile
  • Catawba
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Catawba is located in Caldwell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Catawba
  • Altamont
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Altamont is located in Daviess County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Altamont
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 201 people
  • Gallatin
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
  • Winston
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Hamilton ...

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 104 newspapers that have been published in the area around Hamilton.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Hamilton. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Hamilton and those printed in the larger area surrounding Hamilton.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4> of Hamilton.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 Hamilton:

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>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 Hamilton, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Hamilton) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.