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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 Mexico (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 Mexico. 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 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.

Mexico is located in Audrain County and is the County Seat.

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 Audrain County: Boone, Callaway, Monroe, Montgomery, Pike, Ralls & Randolph.

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

  • Audrain County     (The home county of Mexico)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mexico, with the one closest to Mexico listed first.
    • Vandiver
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Vandiver is located in Audrain County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vandiver
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 69 people
    • Thompson
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Thompson is located in Audrain County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thompson
    • Benton City
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Benton City is located in Audrain County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Benton City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 103 people
    • Rush Hill
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Laddonia
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Martinsburg
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Farber
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Saling ‑ Historic
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Tulip
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Larrabee
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Larrabee is located in Audrain County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Larrabee
    • Vandalia
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
  • Boone County
  • Callaway County
  • Monroe County
  • Montgomery County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mexico, with the one closest to Mexico listed first.
    • Wellsville
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Montgomery City
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Middletown
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Middletown is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Middletown
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 150 people
    • Danville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Gamma
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • New Florence
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Bellflower
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Bellflower is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bellflower
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 356 people
  • Pike County
  • Ralls County
  • Randolph County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mexico, with the one closest to Mexico listed first.
    • Clark
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Clark is located in Randolph County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clark
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 284 people
    • Renick
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Renick is located in Randolph County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Renick
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 174 people

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

Cemeteries Near Mexico ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Mexico.

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

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

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

  • Elmwood Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • St. Brendans Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • East Lawn Memorial Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Trinity Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Lockridge Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Bean Creek Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • New Hope Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Eubank Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Benton City Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Unity Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Rock Hill Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Mt. Zion Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (167 more) ...
    • Skull Lick Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Concord Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Grand Prairie Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 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.<3>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Mexico had a population of 4,789 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Mexico had a population of 11,530 people.

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

  • Thompson
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Thompson is located in Audrain County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thompson
  • Benton City
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Benton City is located in Audrain County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Benton City
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 103 people
  • Bryans ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Bryans is located in Callaway County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bryans
  • Rush Hill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Worcester ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Worcester is located in Audrain County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Worcester
  • Molino
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Molino is located in Audrain County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Molino
  • Concord
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Concord is located in Callaway County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Concord
  • Auxvasse
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Hatton
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Bachelor
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Bachelor is located in Callaway County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bachelor
  • Laddonia
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
  • Centralia
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • McCredie
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • McCredie is located in Callaway County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McCredie
    • Santa Fe
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Santa Fe is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Santa Fe
    • Rowena
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Rowena is located in Audrain County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rowena

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Mexico ...

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 81 newspapers that have been published in the area around Mexico.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

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

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 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 Mexico:

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