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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 Pierce (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 Pierce. 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 southeast 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 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.

Pierce is located in Pierce County and is the County Seat.

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 Pierce County: Antelope, Cedar, Knox, Madison, Stanton & Wayne.

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

  • Pierce County     (The home county of Pierce)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Pierce, with the one closest to Pierce listed first.
    • Wee Town
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wee Town have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wee Town
      • Wee Town is located in Pierce County
    • Hadar
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Foster
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Osmond
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • McLean
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Breslau
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Breslau
      • Breslau is located in Pierce County
    • Plainview
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Plainview have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plainview
      • Plainview is located in Pierce County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,197 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Plainview <2>
  • Antelope County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Pierce, with the one closest to Pierce listed first.
    • Brunswick
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brunswick have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brunswick
      • Brunswick is located in Antelope County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 130 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Brunswick <2>
    • Oakdale
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Neligh
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
  • Cedar County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Pierce, with the one closest to Pierce listed first.
    • Randolph
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Magnet
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Magnet have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magnet
      • Magnet is located in Cedar County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 54 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Magnet <2>
    • Belden
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Coleridge
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Coleridge have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coleridge
      • Coleridge is located in Cedar County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 452 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Coleridge <2>
    • Laurel
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Dixon County
    • Concord
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Concord have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Concord
      • Concord is located in Dixon County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 151 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Concord <2>
  • Knox County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Pierce, with the one closest to Pierce listed first.
    • Wausa
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wausa have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wausa
      • Wausa is located in Knox County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 557 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wausa <2>
    • Creighton
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Creighton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Creighton
      • Creighton is located in Knox County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,077 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Creighton <2>
    • Bloomfield
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Bazile Mills
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bazile Mills
      • Bazile Mills is located in Knox County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 29 people
    • Winnetoon
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Madison County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Pierce, with the one closest to Pierce listed first.
    • Norfolk
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Battle Creek
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Meadow Grove
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Meadow Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Grove
      • Meadow Grove is located in Madison County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 283 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Meadow Grove <2>
    • Warnerville
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warnerville
      • Warnerville is located in Madison County
    • Tilden
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tilden have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tilden
      • Tilden is located in Madison County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 936 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Tilden <2>
    • Fairview ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairview
      • Fairview is located in Madison County
    • Emerick
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Emerick
      • Emerick is located in Madison County
    • Madison
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Madison have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Madison
      • Madison is located in Madison County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,343 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Madison <2>
  • Stanton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Pierce, with the one closest to Pierce listed first.
    • Stanton
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Pilger
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Wayne County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Pierce, with the one closest to Pierce listed first.
    • Hoskins
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Sholes
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sholes
      • Sholes is located in Wayne County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 20 people
    • Carroll
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Carroll have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carroll
      • Carroll is located in Wayne County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 212 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Carroll <2>
    • Winside
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Wayne
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wayne have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wayne
      • Wayne is located in Wayne County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,758 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wayne <2>

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Pierce ...

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 174 newspapers that have been published in the area around Pierce.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

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

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 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 Pierce:

Cemeteries Near Pierce ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Pierce.

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 Pierce covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • St. Josephs Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Josephs Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Josephs Cemetery
  • Prospect View Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
  • Zion Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Zion Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Zion Cemetery
  • Immanuel Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Immanuel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Immanuel Cemetery
  • Trinity Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Trinity Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Trinity Cemetery
  • Osmond Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Osmond Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Osmond Cemetery
  • Best Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Lambrecht Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lambrecht Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lambrecht Cemetery
  • Jackson Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Jackson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jackson Cemetery
  • St. Paul Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Paul Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Paul Cemetery
  • Hillcrest Memorial Park
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Rose Hill Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rose Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rose Hill Cemetery
  • Continue List   (67 more) ...
    • Prospect Hill Cemetery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Prospect Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Prospect Hill Cemetery
    • Immanuel Cemetery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Immanuel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Immanuel Cemetery
    • St. Marys Cemetery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Marys Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Marys Cemetery

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 Pierce had a population of 563 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Pierce had a population of 1,734 people.

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

  • Hadar
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Foster
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Osmond
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
  • Norfolk
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Hoskins
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Battle Creek
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
  • Meadow Grove
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Meadow Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Grove
    • Meadow Grove is located in Madison County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 283 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Meadow Grove <2>
  • Randolph
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Warnerville
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warnerville
    • Warnerville is located in Madison County
  • Plainview
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Plainview have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plainview
    • Plainview is located in Pierce County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,197 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Plainview <2>
  • Winside
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
  • Carroll
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Carroll have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carroll
    • Carroll is located in Wayne County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 212 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Carroll <2>
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Magnet
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Magnet have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magnet
      • Magnet is located in Cedar County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 54 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Magnet <2>
    • Tilden
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tilden have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tilden
      • Tilden is located in Madison County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 936 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Tilden <2>
    • Wausa
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wausa have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wausa
      • Wausa is located in Knox County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 557 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wausa <2>

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

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

The official website for Pierce County: www.co.pierce.ne.us/

The official website for State of Nebraska: 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>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- Pierce) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Pierce. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.1990, Longitude: -97.5278       In this case, the coordinates for Pierce have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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>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 Pierce, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024