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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 Kirby (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 Kirby. 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.

Kirby is located in Shelby 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 Shelby County: Knox, Lewis, Macon, Marion, Monroe & Randolph.

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

  • Shelby County     (The home county of Kirby)
  • Adair County
  • Knox County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Kirby, with the one closest to Kirby listed first.
    • Plevna
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
      • Plevna is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plevna
    • Hedge City
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Newark
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Novelty
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Jeddo
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Knox City
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Edina
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Hurdland
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Hurdland is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hurdland
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 153 people
    • Forest Springs
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Kenwood
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Baring
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Colony
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
  • Lewis County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Kirby, with the one closest to Kirby listed first.
    • Argola
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • La Belle
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Lewistown
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Ewing
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • New Court Village
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • New Court Village is located in Lewis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Court Village
    • Durham
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Gilead
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Maywood
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Monticello
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Monticello is located in Lewis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monticello
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 92 people
    • Sellers
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Weber
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Macon County
  • Marion County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Kirby, with the one closest to Kirby listed first.
    • Nelsonville
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Philadelphia
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
      • Philadelphia is located in Marion County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Philadelphia
  • Monroe County
  • Ralls County
    • The Landing
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • The Landing is located in Ralls County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for The Landing
  • Randolph County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Kirby, with the one closest to Kirby listed first.
    • Jacksonville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Cairo
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Kirby ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Kirby.

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

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

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

  • Forest Grove Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • Hiles Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Zion Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Gray Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Peoples Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Morris Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Mt. Hope Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Hebron Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Pickett Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Garnett Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Antioch Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Cedar Grove Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (185 more) ...
    • Wood Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Eaton Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Smith Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)

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, Kirby had a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Epworth
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Epworth is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Epworth
  • Shelbyville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Bethel
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Leonard
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Hagers Grove
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Hagers Grove is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hagers Grove
  • Elgin
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Elgin is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elgin
  • Plevna
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Plevna is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plevna
  • Cherry Box
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Cherry Box is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherry Box
  • Lentner
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • Clarence
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Oakdale
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Oakdale is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakdale
  • Shelbina
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Novelty
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Newark
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Nickellton
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Nickellton is located in Macon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nickellton

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

Newspapers Published in Kirby ...

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 87 newspapers that have been published in the area around Kirby.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Kirby, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Kirby.

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 either 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 Kirby:

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 Kirby, 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 from Point A (ie- Kirby) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.