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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 Tarkio (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 Tarkio. 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 and 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.

Tarkio is located in Atchison 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 Atchison County: Fremont (IA), Page (IA), Holt, Nodaway, Nemaha (NE), Otoe (NE) & Richardson (NE).

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

  • Atchison County     (The home county of Tarkio)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Tarkio, with the one closest to Tarkio listed first.
    • Westboro
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Westboro is located in Atchison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westboro
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 126 people
    • Fairfax
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Rock Port
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Farmers City
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Farmers City is located in Atchison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farmers City
    • Phelps City
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
      • Phelps City is located in Atchison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Phelps City
    • Watson
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Holt County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Tarkio, with the one closest to Tarkio listed first.
    • Corning
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Craig
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Mound City
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Maitland
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Maitland is located in Holt County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maitland
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 296 people
    • Bigelow
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Bigelow is located in Holt County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bigelow
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 23 people
    • Big Lake
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Fortescue
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Fortescue is located in Holt County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fortescue
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 28 people
    • New Point
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Nodaway County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Tarkio, with the one closest to Tarkio listed first.
    • Elmo
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
      • Elmo is located in Nodaway County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elmo
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 148 people
    • Burlington Junction
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Quitman
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Quitman is located in Nodaway County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quitman
      • Estimated population in 2017: 42 people
    • Clearmont
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Skidmore
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Graham
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Maryville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Pickering
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Pickering is located in Nodaway County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pickering
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 141 people
    • Hopkins
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
  • Fremont County (IA)
  • Page County (IA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Tarkio, with the one closest to Tarkio listed first.
    • Northboro
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Blanchard
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Coin
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • College Springs
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • College Springs is located in Page County (IA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for College Springs
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 204 people
    • Braddyville
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Shenandoah
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Tarkio City ‑ Historic
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Tarkio City is located in Page County (IA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tarkio City
    • Shambaugh
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Yorktown
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Yorktown is located in Page County (IA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yorktown
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 83 people
    • Essex
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Essex is located in Page County (IA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Essex
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 737 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Essex <1>
    • Clarinda
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Taylor County (IA)
  • Nemaha County (NE)
  • Otoe County (NE)
  • Richardson County (NE)

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

Cemeteries Near Tarkio ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Tarkio.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Tarkio, with the one closest to Tarkio 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 Tarkio had a population of 1,156 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Tarkio had a population of 1,420 people.

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

  • York ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • York is located in Atchison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for York
  • Rock Port
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Fairfax
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • London ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • London is located in Atchison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for London
  • Westboro
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Westboro is located in Atchison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westboro
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 126 people
  • Milton ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Milton is located in Atchison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milton
  • High Creek
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Dotham ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Dotham is located in Atchison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dotham
  • Phelps City
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Phelps City is located in Atchison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Phelps City
  • Langdon ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Langdon is located in Atchison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Langdon
  • Nishnabotna ‑ Historic
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Nishnabotna is located in Atchison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nishnabotna
  • Blanchard
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (18 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Tarkio ...

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 79 newspapers that have been published in the area around Tarkio.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Tarkio. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Tarkio and those printed in the larger area surrounding Tarkio.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3> of Tarkio.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin 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 Tarkio:

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