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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 Williamsburg (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 Williamsburg. 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 southwest 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 south.

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 south 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.

Williamsburg is located in Callaway 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 Callaway County: Audrain, Boone, Cole, Gasconade, Montgomery & Osage.

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

  • Callaway County     (The home county of Williamsburg)
  • Audrain County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Williamsburg, with the one closest to Williamsburg listed first.
    • Martinsburg
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Benton City
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Benton City is located in Audrain County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Benton City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 103 people
    • Vandiver
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Vandiver is located in Audrain County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vandiver
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 69 people
    • Rush Hill
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Mexico
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Laddonia
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Thompson
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Thompson is located in Audrain County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thompson
    • Farber
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Vandalia
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
  • Boone County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Williamsburg, with the one closest to Williamsburg listed first.
    • Centralia
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Ashland
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Cole County
    • Osage City
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Osage City is located in Cole County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Osage City
  • Franklin County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Williamsburg, with the one closest to Williamsburg listed first.
    • Berger
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Kohl City
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Kohl City is located in Franklin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kohl City
    • Etlah
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Gasconade County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Williamsburg, with the one closest to Williamsburg listed first.
    • Morrison
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Gasconade
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Gasconade is located in Gasconade County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gasconade
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 211 people
    • Hermann
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Little Berger
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Lincoln County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Williamsburg, with the one closest to Williamsburg listed first.
    • Truxton
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Truxton is located in Lincoln County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Truxton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 106 people
    • Olney
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Hawk Point
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
  • Montgomery County
  • Osage County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Williamsburg, with the one closest to Williamsburg listed first.
    • Chamois
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Isbell ‑ Historic
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Isbell is located in Osage County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Isbell
    • Bonnots Mill
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • French Village ‑ Historic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • French Village is located in Osage County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for French Village
  • Warren County

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

Cemeteries Near Williamsburg ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Williamsburg.

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

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

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

  • Antioch Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Allen Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Oak Grove Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Holt - Covington Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Gregory Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Tate Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Conley Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Augusta Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Providence Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Fairview Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Whitehead Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Sawyers Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (270 more) ...
    • Bryant Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Gregory Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Bethel Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)

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.<2>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Williamsburg had a population of 106 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Shamrock
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Shamrock is located in Callaway County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shamrock
  • Bachelor
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Bachelor is located in Callaway County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bachelor
  • Readsville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Readsville is located in Callaway County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Readsville
  • Mineola
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Mineola is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mineola
  • Toledo
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Toledo is located in Callaway County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Toledo
  • Danville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Calwood ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Calwood is located in Callaway County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Calwood
  • Reform
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Reform is located in Callaway County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reform
  • Americus
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Montgomery City
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
  • Wellsville
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Auxvasse
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • McCredie
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • McCredie is located in Callaway County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McCredie
    • Fulton
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • New Florence
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)

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

Newspapers Published in Williamsburg ...

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 51 newspapers that have been published in the area around Williamsburg.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Williamsburg, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Williamsburg.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 Williamsburg:

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>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 Williamsburg, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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- Williamsburg) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.