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 Falls City (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 Falls City. 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 Falls City ...
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 occur.
- In past government published Postal Guides, Falls City was referred to as Falls City Courthouse.
- While the name of this city is Falls City, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Falls City may originally have been Fall's City.
Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Falls City might be written as Fall City.
You might be interested in other communities that are also named Falls City. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Falls City.
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 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.
Falls City is located in Richardson County and is the County Seat.
To see how the shape of Nebraska's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Richardson County: Brown (KS), Doniphan (KS), Nemaha (KS), Holt (MO), Nemaha & Pawnee.
Below are the counties that are near Falls City. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Falls City:
- Richardson County (The home county of Falls City)
- The following are listed by their distance from Falls City, with the one closest to Falls City listed first.
- Straussville
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- Straussville is located in Richardson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Straussville
- Preston
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Preston is located in Richardson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Preston
- Population from the 2020 Census: 26 people
- Salem
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Rulo
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
- Arago ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
- Arago is located in Richardson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arago
- Verdon
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
- Barada
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
- Barada is located in Richardson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barada
- Population from the 2020 Census: 22 people
- Shubert
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
- Dawson
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
- Stella
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
- Nim City
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
- Nim City is located in Richardson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nim City
- Humboldt
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
- Nemaha County
- The following are listed by their distance from Falls City, with the one closest to Falls City listed first.
- Saint Deroin ‑ Historic
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- Saint Deroin is located in Nemaha County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Deroin
- Nemaha
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
- Nemaha is located in Nemaha County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nemaha
- Population from the 2020 Census: 143 people
- Nemaha has also been known as:
- Nemaha City
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Nemaha <2>
- Howe
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Howe is located in Nemaha County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Howe
- Brownville
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
- Auburn
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
- Rohrs
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
- Rohrs is located in Nemaha County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rohrs
- Peru
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
- Pawnee County
- The following are listed by their distance from Falls City, with the one closest to Falls City listed first.
- Du Bois
(23 miles [37 km] to the west)
- Table Rock
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
- Pawnee City
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
- Brown County (KS)
- The following are listed by their distance from Falls City, with the one closest to Falls City listed first.
- Reserve
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Reserve is located in Brown County (KS)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reserve
- Population from the 2020 Census: 81 people
- Padonia
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
- Padonia is located in Brown County (KS)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Padonia
- Hamlin
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Hamlin is located in Brown County (KS)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hamlin
- Population from the 2020 Census: 35 people
- Hamlin has also been known as:
- Hamilton
- Morrill
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
- Morrill is located in Brown County (KS)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Morrill
- Population from the 2020 Census: 225 people
- Sun Springs
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
- Sun Springs is located in Brown County (KS)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sun Springs
- Hiawatha
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
- Fairview
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
- Robinson
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
- Robinson is located in Brown County (KS)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Robinson
- Population from the 2020 Census: 223 people
- Baker ‑ Historic
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
- Baker is located in Brown County (KS)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baker
- Powhattan
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
- Powhattan is located in Brown County (KS)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Powhattan
- Population from the 2020 Census: 72 people
- Mercier
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
- Mercier is located in Brown County (KS)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mercier
- Willis
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
- Willis is located in Brown County (KS)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willis
- Population from the 2020 Census: 36 people
- Doniphan County (KS)
- The following are listed by their distance from Falls City, with the one closest to Falls City listed first.
- White Cloud
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
- White Cloud is located in Doniphan County (KS)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White Cloud
- Population from the 2020 Census: 165 people
- Iowa Point
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
- Iowa Point is located in Doniphan County (KS)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iowa Point
- Highland
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
- Leona
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
- Leona is located in Doniphan County (KS)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leona
- Population from the 2020 Census: 50 people
- Sparks
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
- Sparks is located in Doniphan County (KS)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sparks
- Severance
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
- Severance is located in Doniphan County (KS)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Severance
- Population from the 2020 Census: 88 people
- Denton
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
- Fanning
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
- Fanning is located in Doniphan County (KS)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fanning
- Moray
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
- Moray is located in Doniphan County (KS)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moray
- Purcell
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
- Purcell is located in Doniphan County (KS)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Purcell
- Nemaha County (KS)
- The following are listed by their distance from Falls City, with the one closest to Falls City listed first.
- Berwick
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
- Berwick is located in Nemaha County (KS)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berwick
- Sabetha
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
- Bern
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
- Bern is located in Nemaha County (KS)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bern
- Population from the 2020 Census: 161 people
- Oneida
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
- Oneida is located in Nemaha County (KS)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oneida
- Population from the 2020 Census: 71 people
- Capioma
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
- Capioma is located in Nemaha County (KS)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Capioma
- Woodlawn
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
- Woodlawn is located in Nemaha County (KS)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlawn
- Central City ‑ Historic
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
- Central City is located in Nemaha County (KS)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Central City
- Granada
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
- Granada is located in Nemaha County (KS)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Granada
- Granada has also been known as:
- Pleasant Point
- Pleasant Spring
- Saint Benedict ‑ Historic
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
- Saint Benedict is located in Nemaha County (KS)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Benedict
- Seneca
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
- Atchison County (MO)
- The following are listed by their distance from Falls City, with the one closest to Falls City listed first.
- Fairfax
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
- Phelps City
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
- Phelps City is located in Atchison County (MO)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Phelps City
- Rock Port
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
- Watson
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
- Watson is located in Atchison County (MO)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Watson
- Population from the 2020 Census: 89 people
- Tarkio
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
- Holt County (MO)
- The following are listed by their distance from Falls City, with the one closest to Falls City listed first.
- Big Lake
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
- Big Lake is located in Holt County (MO)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Lake
- Population from the 2020 Census: 138 people
- Fortescue
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
- Fortescue is located in Holt County (MO)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fortescue
- Population from the 2020 Census: 28 people
- Corning
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
- Corning is located in Holt County (MO)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Corning
- Population from the 2020 Census: 13 people
- Craig
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
- Bigelow
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
- Bigelow is located in Holt County (MO)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bigelow
- Population from the 2020 Census: 23 people
- Mound City
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
- Forest City
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
- Oregon
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
- New Point
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
- New Point is located in Holt County (MO)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Point
- Forbes
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
- Forbes is located in Holt County (MO)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forbes
- Maitland
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
- Maitland is located in Holt County (MO)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maitland
- Population from the 2020 Census: 296 people
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Falls City, see our County-by-County Page for Falls City.
Cemeteries Near Falls City ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Falls City.
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 Falls City - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Falls City covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Falls City, with the one closest to Falls City listed first.
- Falls City Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
- Steele Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the west)
- Piersons Point Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
- Falls City Catholic Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
- Archer Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
- Silver Creek Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
- Maple Grove Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Zion Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zion Cemetery
- The Zion Cemetery has also been known as:
- Zion Bethel Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #101654 <3>
- St. Marks Lutheran Church Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for St. Marks Lutheran Church Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the St. Marks Lutheran Church Cemetery is located outside and to the southeast of Verdon.
- The St. Marks Lutheran Church Cemetery has also been known as:
- St. Marks Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2243787 <3>
- St. Pauls Evangelical Lutheran Church Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
- Cornelison Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
- Zion Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Continue List (200 more) ...
- St. John Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Fricke Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Heater Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
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.<5>
The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Falls City had a population of 2,102 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Falls City had a population of 4,076 people.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Falls City, with the one closest to Falls City listed first.
- Preston
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Preston is located in Richardson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Preston
- Population from the 2020 Census: 26 people
- Reserve
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Reserve is located in Brown County (KS)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reserve
- Population from the 2020 Census: 81 people
- Salem
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Rulo
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
- Arago ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
- Arago is located in Richardson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arago
- Verdon
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
- Padonia
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
- Padonia is located in Brown County (KS)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Padonia
- Morrill
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
- Morrill is located in Brown County (KS)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Morrill
- Population from the 2020 Census: 225 people
- Hamlin
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Hamlin is located in Brown County (KS)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hamlin
- Population from the 2020 Census: 35 people
- Hamlin has also been known as:
- Hamilton
- Barada
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
- Barada is located in Richardson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barada
- Population from the 2020 Census: 22 people
- Shubert
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
- Dawson
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
- Continue List (14 more) ...
- Fortescue
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
- Fortescue is located in Holt County (MO)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fortescue
- Population from the 2020 Census: 28 people
- Craig
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
- Corning
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
- Corning is located in Holt County (MO)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Corning
- Population from the 2020 Census: 13 people
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Falls City. See our List of 1890's Communities around Falls City.
Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Falls City ...
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 271 newspapers that have been published in the area around Falls City.
We have organized these newspapers into two lists:
- A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Falls City. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Falls City and those printed in the larger area surrounding Falls City.
- An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<4> of Falls City.
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 websites either 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 Falls City:
- Websites specific to Nebraska
- Pages specific to Richardson County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Nemaha County
- Pawnee County
- Brown County
- Doniphan County
- Nemaha County
- Atchison County
- Holt County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Nebraska
Footnotes ...
| <1> | It's generally believed that possessive apostrophes are removed to prevent confusion on maps where the apostrophe may be confused with a cartographic symbol. While this is generally true, it's not uncommon to find possessive apostrophes in administrative names (such as towns or counties). |
| <2> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <3> | 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. |
| <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- Falls City) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <5> | 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 Falls City, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |