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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 Sumner (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 Sumner. 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 and hospitals 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.

Sumner is located in Dawson 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 Dawson County: Buffalo, Custer, Frontier, Gosper, Lincoln & Phelps.

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

  • Dawson County     (The home county of Sumner)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sumner, with the one closest to Sumner listed first.
    • Eddyville
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Overton
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Overton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Overton
      • Overton is located in Dawson County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 564 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Overton <1>
    • Lexington
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Darr
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Darr
      • Darr is located in Dawson County
    • Cozad
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Willow Island
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Island
      • Willow Island is located in Dawson County
  • Buffalo County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sumner, with the one closest to Sumner listed first.
    • Miller
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Amherst
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Sartoria
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sartoria
      • Sartoria is located in Buffalo County
    • Elm Creek
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elm Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elm Creek
      • Elm Creek is located in Buffalo County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 945 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elm Creek <1>
    • Pleasanton
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Odessa
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Riverdale
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Riverdale have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverdale
      • Riverdale is located in Buffalo County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 179 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Riverdale <1>
    • Prairie Center
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Center
      • Prairie Center is located in Buffalo County
    • Sweetwater
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweetwater
      • Sweetwater is located in Buffalo County
    • Poole
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poole
      • Poole is located in Buffalo County
    • Kearney
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Custer County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sumner, with the one closest to Sumner listed first.
    • Cumro ‑ Historic
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cumro
      • Cumro is located in Custer County
    • Buckeye
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buckeye
      • Buckeye is located in Custer County
    • Oconto
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Mason City
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mason City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mason City
      • Mason City is located in Custer County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 169 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mason City <1>
    • Ansley
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Berwyn
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Berwyn have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berwyn
      • Berwyn is located in Custer County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 79 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Berwyn <1>
  • Gosper County
    • Smithfield
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Phelps County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sumner, with the one closest to Sumner listed first.
    • Westmark
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westmark
      • Westmark is located in Phelps County
    • Bertrand
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Sherman County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sumner, with the one closest to Sumner listed first.
    • Litchfield
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Litchfield have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Litchfield
      • Litchfield is located in Sherman County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 248 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Litchfield <1>
    • Hazard
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)

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

Newspapers Published in Sumner ...

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 54 newspapers that have been published in the area around Sumner.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Sumner, 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 Sumner.

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 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 Sumner:

Cemeteries Near Sumner ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Sumner.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Sumner, with the one closest to Sumner 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.<6>

While we didn't find Sumner in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Sumner.

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

  • Miller
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Eddyville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Cumro ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cumro
    • Cumro is located in Custer County
  • Overton
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Overton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Overton
    • Overton is located in Dawson County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 564 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Overton <1>
  • Amherst
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Josselyn
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Josselyn have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Josselyn
    • Josselyn is located in Dawson County
  • Sartoria
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sartoria
    • Sartoria is located in Buffalo County
  • Lexington
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Elm Creek
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elm Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elm Creek
    • Elm Creek is located in Buffalo County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 945 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elm Creek <1>
  • Oconto
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
  • Odessa
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Riverdale
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Riverdale have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverdale
    • Riverdale is located in Buffalo County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 179 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Riverdale <1>
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Pleasanton
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Mason City
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mason City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mason City
      • Mason City is located in Custer County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 169 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mason City <1>
    • Litchfield
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Litchfield have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Litchfield
      • Litchfield is located in Sherman County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 248 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Litchfield <1>

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

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

The official website for Dawson County: www.dawsoncountyne.net/

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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Sumner) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Sumner. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.9499, Longitude: -99.5081    
<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>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.
<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 Sumner, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024