RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Missouri >> Jasper County >> Thoms >> Genealogy HelperIndex...

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 Thoms (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 Thoms. 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 doctors and 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.

Thoms is located in Jasper 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 Jasper County: Cherokee (KS), Crawford (KS), Barton, Dade, Lawrence & Newton.

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

  • Jasper County     (The home county of Thoms)
  • Barton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Thoms, with the one closest to Thoms listed first.
    • Nashville
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Mindenmines
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Oakton
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Lamar Heights
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Lamar Heights is located in Barton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lamar Heights
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 173 people
    • Burgess
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Burgess is located in Barton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burgess
      • Estimated population in 2017: 54 people
    • Liberal
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Liberal is located in Barton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberal
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 702 people
    • Kenoma
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Lamar
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Golden City
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Lawrence County
  • McDonald County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Thoms, with the one closest to Thoms listed first.
    • May
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Goodman
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Erie
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Newton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Thoms, with the one closest to Thoms listed first.
    • Grand Falls Plaza
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
      • Grand Falls Plaza is located in Newton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Falls Plaza
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 112 people
    • Shoal Creek Drive
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
      • Shoal Creek Drive is located in Newton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shoal Creek Drive
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 327 people
    • Dennis Acres
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Dennis Acres is located in Newton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dennis Acres
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 72 people
    • Cliff Village
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
      • Cliff Village is located in Newton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cliff Village
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 39 people
    • Redings Mill
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
      • Redings Mill is located in Newton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Redings Mill
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 150 people
    • Leawood
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Leawood is located in Newton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leawood
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 678 people
    • Silver Creek
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Silver Creek is located in Newton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Creek
      • Estimated population in 2012: 631 people
    • Shoal Creek Estates
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Shoal Creek Estates is located in Newton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shoal Creek Estates
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 92 people
    • Saginaw
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Saginaw is located in Newton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saginaw
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 305 people
    • Spring City
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Spring City is located in Newton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring City
    • Loma Linda
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Loma Linda is located in Newton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loma Linda
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 782 people
    • Diamond
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Racine
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • Racine is located in Newton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Racine
  • Cherokee County (KS)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Thoms, with the one closest to Thoms listed first.
    • Badger
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • East Galena
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • East Galena is located in Cherokee County (KS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Galena
    • Empire City
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Empire City is located in Cherokee County (KS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Empire City
    • Galena
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Lawton
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • South Galena
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
      • South Galena is located in Cherokee County (KS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Galena
    • Crestline
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Riverton
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Lowell
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Lowell is located in Cherokee County (KS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lowell
      • Lowell has also been known as:
      • Lowell Station
    • Quaker
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Baxter Springs
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Baxter Junction
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Baxter Junction is located in Cherokee County (KS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baxter Junction
    • Neutral
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Crawford County (KS)
  • Labette County (KS)
  • Ottawa County (OK)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Thoms, with the one closest to Thoms listed first.
    • Hockerville ‑ Historic
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Peoria
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • Peoria is located in Ottawa County (OK)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peoria
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 135 people
    • Lincolnville
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Picher ‑ Historic
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Quapaw
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Cardin
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Commerce
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • North Miami
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • North Miami is located in Ottawa County (OK)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Miami
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 370 people
    • Ottawa
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Wyandotte
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Miami
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Kellyville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Dotyville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Dotyville is located in Ottawa County (OK)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dotyville

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

Cemeteries Near Thoms ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Thoms.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Thoms, with the one closest to Thoms 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 in 1895, Thoms had railroad service and no post office.

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

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

Newspapers Published in Thoms ...

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 91 newspapers that have been published in the area around Thoms.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Thoms, there are papers which were published within 22 miles [35.4 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Thoms.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we 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 Thoms:

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 Thoms, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Thoms) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.