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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 Oak Grove (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 Oak Grove. 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.

Name Variations for Oak Grove ...

When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might occur.

Another variation: Oakgrove.

  • A typical abbreviation for Oak Grove: Oak Grv.

You might be interested in other communities that are also named Oak Grove. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Oak Grove.

If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.

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 and doctors 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.

Oak Grove is primarily located in Jackson County. A portion of Oak Grove extends into Lafayette 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 Jackson County: Johnson (KS), Wyandotte (KS), Cass, Clay, Johnson, Lafayette & Ray.

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

  • Jackson County     (The home county of Oak Grove)
  • Carroll County
  • Cass County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oak Grove, with the one closest to Oak Grove listed first.
    • Lee's Summit
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Baldwin Park
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Baldwin Park is located in Cass County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baldwin Park
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 96 people
    • Pleasant Hill
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Strasburg
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Lake Winnebago
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Lake Winnebago is located in Cass County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Winnebago
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,370 people
    • Coleman
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Raymore
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • East Lynne
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Gunn City
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Belton
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Harrelson
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Harrelson is located in Cass County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harrelson
    • Harrisonville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Clay County
  • Johnson County
  • Lafayette County
  • Platte County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oak Grove, with the one closest to Oak Grove listed first.
    • Northmoor
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Northmoor is located in Platte County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Northmoor
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 362 people
    • Houston Lake
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Houston Lake is located in Platte County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Houston Lake
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 248 people
    • Riverside
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Ray County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oak Grove, with the one closest to Oak Grove listed first.
    • Fleming
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Fleming is located in Ray County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fleming
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 128 people
    • Orrick
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Camden
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Albany
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Albany is located in Ray County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Albany
    • Henrietta
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Henrietta is located in Ray County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Henrietta
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 355 people
    • Richmond
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Rayville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Wood Heights
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Wood Heights is located in Ray County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wood Heights
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 700 people
    • Woods Heights
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Crystal Lakes
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Crystal Lakes is located in Ray County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crystal Lakes
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 352 people
    • Hardin
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Hardin is located in Ray County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hardin
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 531 people
    • Homestead
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Homestead is located in Ray County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homestead
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 184 people
  • Johnson County (KS)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oak Grove, with the one closest to Oak Grove listed first.
    • Westwood Hills
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Westwood Hills is located in Johnson County (KS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westwood Hills
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 390 people
    • Fairway
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Fairway is located in Johnson County (KS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairway
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,963 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fairway <1>
    • Leawood
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Mission Hills
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Mission Hills is located in Johnson County (KS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mission Hills
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,533 people
    • Mission Woods
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Mission Woods is located in Johnson County (KS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mission Woods
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 195 people
    • Prairie Village
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Westwood
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Westwood is located in Johnson County (KS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westwood
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,642 people
    • Roeland Park
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Countryside
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Countryside is located in Johnson County (KS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Countryside
    • Mission
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Mission is located in Johnson County (KS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mission
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,873 people
      • Former name for Mission:
      • Mission Hill Acres
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mission <1>
    • Merriam
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
    • Overland Park
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Wyandotte County (KS)

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

Cemeteries Near Oak Grove ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Oak Grove.

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 Oak Grove - one of the links might be able to help.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Oak Grove, with the one closest to Oak Grove 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 Oak Grove had a population of 428 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Oak Grove had a population of 8,437 people.

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

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

Newspapers Published in Oak Grove ...

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 200 newspapers that have been published in the area around Oak Grove.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Oak Grove, there are papers which were published within 24 miles [38.6 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Oak Grove.

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 Oak Grove:

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 '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- Oak Grove) 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 Oak Grove, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.