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The Commemorative Quarter for Nebraska





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 Tecumseh (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 Tecumseh. 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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.

Tecumseh is located in Johnson 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 Johnson County: Gage, Lancaster, Nemaha, Otoe & Pawnee.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Tecumseh ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Tecumseh.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Tecumseh, with the one closest to Tecumseh 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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Tecumseh had a population of 1,654 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Tecumseh had a population of 1,578 people.

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

  • Graf ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Graf. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Graf
    • Graf is located in Johnson County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Graf
    • From Tecumseh to Graf
  • Elk Creek
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Vesta
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Cook
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cook have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cook
    • Cook is located in Johnson County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 300 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cook <2>
  • Johnson
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Johnson have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johnson
    • Johnson is located in Nemaha County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 327 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Johnson <2>
  • Mayberry
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mayberry have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayberry
    • Mayberry is located in Pawnee County
  • Steinauer
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • Sterling
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Crab Orchard
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Crab Orchard have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crab Orchard
    • Crab Orchard is located in Johnson County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 36 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Crab Orchard <2>
  • Burr
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Burr have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burr
    • Burr is located in Otoe County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 59 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Burr <2>
  • Lewiston
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Table Rock
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Brock
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Talmage
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Violet ‑ Historic
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Violet have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Violet
      • Violet is located in Pawnee County

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Tecumseh ...

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 84 newspapers that have been published in the area around Tecumseh.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

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

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 Tecumseh:

The official website for Tecumseh: www.tecumsehne.com/

The official website for Johnson County: www.co.johnson.ne.us/

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<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 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.
<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 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Tecumseh) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Tecumseh. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.3708, Longitude: -96.1943    
<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 Tecumseh, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025