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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 Steelville (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 Steelville. 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 Steelville ...

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.

In past government published Postal Guides, Steelville was referred to as Steelville Courthouse.

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

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.

For more information about how community names might have been affected by the Board of Geographic Names (BGN), see our page about Placename Rules.

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 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.

Steelville is located in Crawford 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 Crawford County: Dent, Franklin, Gasconade, Iron, Phelps & Washington.

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

  • Crawford County     (The home county of Steelville)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Steelville, with the one closest to Steelville listed first.
    • Sankey ‑ Historic
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Sankey is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sankey
    • Midland
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Midland is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Midland
    • Elaver
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Cuba
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Scotia
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Scotia is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scotia
    • Wesco
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Wesco is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wesco
    • Leasburg
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Cherryville
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Cook Station
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Cook Station is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cook Station
    • Argo
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Bourbon
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Davisville
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Jake Prairie
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Dent County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Steelville, with the one closest to Steelville listed first.
    • Sligo
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Howes
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Howes is located in Dent County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Howes
    • Lake Spring
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Lake Spring is located in Dent County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Spring
    • Boss
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Boss is located in Dent County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boss
    • Lecoma
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Salem
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Doss
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Jack
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Franklin County
  • Gasconade County
  • Iron County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Steelville, with the one closest to Steelville listed first.
    • Viburnum
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Bixby
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Good Water
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
  • Maries County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Steelville, with the one closest to Steelville listed first.
    • Vichy
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Vichy is located in Maries County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vichy
    • Lanes Prairie
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Lindell
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Belle
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Paydown
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Phelps County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Steelville, with the one closest to Steelville listed first.
    • Rosati
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Saint James
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Rolla
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Doolittle
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Doolittle is located in Phelps County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Doolittle
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 595 people
    • Newburg
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Newburg is located in Phelps County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newburg
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 432 people
  • Washington County

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

Cemeteries Near Steelville ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Steelville.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Steelville, with the one closest to Steelville 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 Steelville had a population of 591 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Steelville had a population of 1,636 people.

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

  • Sankey ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Sankey is located in Crawford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sankey
  • Midland
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Midland is located in Crawford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Midland
  • Keysville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Keysville is located in Crawford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keysville
  • Cuba
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Fanning
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Fanning is located in Crawford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fanning
  • Scotia
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Scotia is located in Crawford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scotia
  • Cherryville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Leasburg
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Cook Station
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Cook Station is located in Crawford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cook Station
  • Service ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Service is located in Crawford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Service
  • Coffeyton
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Coffeyton is located in Crawford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coffeyton
  • Delhi ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Delhi is located in Crawford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Delhi
  • Continue List   (17 more) ...
    • Sligo
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Davisville
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Berryman
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
      • Berryman is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berryman

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Steelville ...

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 54 newspapers that have been published in the area around Steelville.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Steelville. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Steelville and those printed in the larger area surrounding Steelville.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<4> of Steelville.

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 helpful 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 Steelville:

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 Steelville, 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Steelville) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.