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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 Cedar Rapids (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 Cedar Rapids. 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 Cedar Rapids ...

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 have occurred.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Cedar Rapids: Cedar Rpds.

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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.

Cedar Rapids is located in Boone County.

To see how the shape of Nebraska's counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Boone County: Antelope, Greeley, Madison, Nance, Platte & Wheeler.

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

  • Boone County     (The home county of Cedar Rapids)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cedar Rapids, with the one closest to Cedar Rapids listed first.
    • Primrose
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Primrose have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Primrose
      • Primrose is located in Boone County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 57 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Primrose <2>
    • Albion
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Albion have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Albion
      • Albion is located in Boone County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,558 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Albion <2>
    • Boone
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boone
      • Boone is located in Boone County
    • Akron
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Akron. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Akron
      • Akron is located in Boone County
    • Loretto
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loretto
      • Loretto is located in Boone County
    • Vorhees
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Vorhees. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vorhees
      • Vorhees is located in Boone County
    • Saint Edward
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Petersburg
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Petersburg have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Petersburg
      • Petersburg is located in Boone County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 306 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Petersburg <2>
  • Antelope County
    • Elgin
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elgin have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elgin
      • Elgin is located in Antelope County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 613 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elgin <2>
  • Greeley County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cedar Rapids, with the one closest to Cedar Rapids listed first.
    • Spalding
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Spalding have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spalding
      • Spalding is located in Greeley County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 432 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Spalding <2>
    • Wolbach
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Brayton
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brayton
      • Brayton is located in Greeley County
    • Greeley Center
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greeley Center
      • Greeley Center is located in Greeley County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 421 people
    • Greeley
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Horace ‑ Historic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horace
      • Horace is located in Greeley County
    • Scotia
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
  • Howard County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cedar Rapids, with the one closest to Cedar Rapids listed first.
    • Cushing
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cushing
      • Cushing is located in Howard County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 33 people
    • Cotesfield
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Cotesfield. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cotesfield
      • Cotesfield is located in Howard County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 49 people
    • Elba
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Saint Paul
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Madison County
    • Newman Grove
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
  • Merrick County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cedar Rapids, with the one closest to Cedar Rapids listed first.
    • Palmer
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Archer
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Hord
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Hord. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hord
      • Hord is located in Merrick County
    • Clarks
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clarks have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clarks
      • Clarks is located in Merrick County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 345 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Clarks <2>
    • Silver Creek
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Nance County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cedar Rapids, with the one closest to Cedar Rapids listed first.
    • Belgrade
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Fullerton
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Genoa
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Krakow
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Krakow
      • Krakow is located in Nance County
  • Platte County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cedar Rapids, with the one closest to Cedar Rapids listed first.
    • Rosenburg
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosenburg
      • Rosenburg is located in Platte County
    • Lindsay
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Monroe
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Monroe have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monroe
      • Monroe is located in Platte County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 273 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Monroe <2>
    • Saint Bernard
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Bernard
      • Saint Bernard is located in Platte County
  • Wheeler County
    • Bartlett
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Cedar Rapids ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Cedar Rapids.

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.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

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

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

  • St. Anthony Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Anthony Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Anthony Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Sunset Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sunset Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Sunset Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the west of Cedar Rapids.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #101513 <4>
  • Sunrise Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sunrise Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sunrise Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Enfield Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Enfield Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Enfield Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Redwing Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Main Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Main Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Main Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located 2 miles [3.2 km]<5> to the southwest of Belgrade.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #100939 <4>
  • Peace Lutheran Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Dublin Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Albion Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Albion Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Albion Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Rose Hill Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Dennison Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Dennison Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Dennison Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Boone Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Boone Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Boone Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (70 more) ...
    • St. Michael Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Michael Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Michael Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • St. Michaels Cemetery - North
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Akron Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Akron Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Akron Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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.<6>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Cedar Rapids had a population of 484 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Cedar Rapids had a population of 351 people.

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

  • Belgrade
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Albion
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Albion have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Albion
    • Albion is located in Boone County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,558 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Albion <2>
  • Boone
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boone
    • Boone is located in Boone County
  • Akron
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Akron. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Akron
    • Akron is located in Boone County
  • Loretto
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loretto
    • Loretto is located in Boone County
  • Saint Edward
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
  • Wolbach
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Fullerton
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
  • O'Connor
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for O'Connor have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for O'Connor
    • O'Connor is located in Greeley County
  • Merchiston
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Merchiston have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merchiston
    • Merchiston is located in Nance County
  • Brayton
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brayton
    • Brayton is located in Greeley County
  • Greeley Center
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greeley Center
    • Greeley Center is located in Greeley County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 421 people
  • Continue List   (17 more) ...
    • Greeley
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Petersburg
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Petersburg have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Petersburg
      • Petersburg is located in Boone County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 306 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Petersburg <2>
    • Cushing
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cushing
      • Cushing is located in Howard County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 33 people

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Cedar Rapids ...

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 118 newspapers that have been published in the area around Cedar Rapids.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Cedar Rapids. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Cedar Rapids and those printed in the larger area surrounding Cedar Rapids.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<5> of Cedar Rapids.

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 professional and volunteer 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 Cedar Rapids:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Cedar Rapids. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Boone County: www.co.boone.ne.us/

The official website for State of Nebraska: https://www.nebraska.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<4>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.
<5>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Cedar Rapids) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Cedar Rapids. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.5589, Longitude: -98.1493       In this case, the coordinates for Cedar Rapids have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>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 Cedar Rapids, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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In closing, please keep in mind that we can not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information on this website, so use with care. We encourage you to double-check the information that is critical to you.

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025