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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 Sidney (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 Sidney. 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 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.

Sidney is located in Cheyenne 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 Cheyenne County: Logan (CO), Sedgwick (CO), Banner, Deuel, Garden, Kimball & Morrill.

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

  • Cheyenne County     (The home county of Sidney)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sidney, with the one closest to Sidney listed first.
    • Brownson
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brownson
      • Brownson is located in Cheyenne County
    • Lorenzo
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lorenzo
      • Lorenzo is located in Cheyenne County
    • Sunol
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunol
      • Sunol is located in Cheyenne County
    • Gurley
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Lodgepole
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Dalton
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Potter
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
  • Deuel County
    • Chappell
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
  • Garden County
  • Kimball County
    • Dix
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dix
      • Dix is located in Kimball County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 216 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Dix <1>
  • Morrill County
    • Alden ‑ Historic
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alden have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alden
      • Alden is located in Morrill County
  • Logan County (CO)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sidney, with the one closest to Sidney listed first.
    • Peetz
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peetz
      • Peetz is located in Logan County (CO)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 237 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Peetz <1>
    • Crook
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crook
      • Crook is located in Logan County (CO)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 110 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Crook <1>
    • Red Lion
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Red Lion have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Lion
      • Red Lion is located in Logan County (CO)
    • Buchanan ‑ Historic
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Buchanan have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buchanan
      • Buchanan is located in Logan County (CO)
    • Iliff
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iliff
      • Iliff is located in Logan County (CO)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 272 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Iliff <1>
    • Padroni
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
  • Sedgwick County (CO)
    • Sedgwick
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sedgwick have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sedgwick
      • Sedgwick is located in Sedgwick County (CO)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 137 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sedgwick <1>

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Sidney ...

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 34 newspapers that have been published in the area around Sidney.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

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

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 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 Sidney:

Cemeteries Near Sidney ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Sidney.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Sidney, with the one closest to Sidney 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.<5>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Sidney had a population of 1,237 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Sidney had a population of 6,235 people.

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

  • Colton
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Colton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colton
    • Colton is located in Cheyenne County
  • Sunol
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunol
    • Sunol is located in Cheyenne County
  • Lodgepole
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
  • Potter
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
  • Crook
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crook
    • Crook is located in Logan County (CO)
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 110 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Crook <1>
  • Jacinto
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Jacinto have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jacinto
    • Jacinto is located in Kimball County
  • Proctor ‑ Historic
    (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Proctor have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Proctor
    • Proctor is located in Logan County (CO)
  • Red Lion
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Red Lion have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Lion
    • Red Lion is located in Logan County (CO)
  • Iliff
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iliff
    • Iliff is located in Logan County (CO)
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 272 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Iliff <1>
  • Chappell
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
  • Sedgwick
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sedgwick have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sedgwick
    • Sedgwick is located in Sedgwick County (CO)
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 137 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sedgwick <1>
  • Dix
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dix
    • Dix is located in Kimball County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 216 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Dix <1>

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

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

The official website for Cheyenne County: www.co.cheyenne.ne.us/

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

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 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.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Sidney) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Sidney. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.1449, Longitude: -102.9780    
<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 Sidney, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024