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 Earls Island (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 Earls Island. 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 Earls Island ...
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.
- A typical abbreviation for Earls Island: Earls Is. (in Canada, 'Isld.' is the more common abbreviation.)
- While the name of this community is Earls Island, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Earls Island may originally have been Earl's Island.
Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Earls Island might be written as Earl Island.
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.
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 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.
Earls Island is located in Shelby County.
To see how the shape of Ohio's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Shelby County: Auglaize, Champaign, Darke, Logan & Miami.
Below are the counties that are near Earls Island. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Earls Island:
- Shelby County (The home county of Earls Island)
- The following are listed by their distance from Earls Island, with the one closest to Earls Island listed first.
- Filburns Island
(Less than 2 miles to the east)
- Filburns Island is located in Shelby County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Filburns Island
- Fort Laramie
(Less than 2 miles to the south)
- Lehmkuhl Landing
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
- Lehmkuhl Landing is located in Shelby County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lehmkuhl Landing
- Kettlersville
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Dawson
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
- Dawson is located in Shelby County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dawson
- Hardin
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
- Hardin is located in Shelby County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hardin
- Anna
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
- Russia
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
- Botkins
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
- Sidney
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
- Lockington
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
- Lockington is located in Shelby County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lockington
- Population from the 2020 Census: 133 people
- Montra
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
- Montra is located in Shelby County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montra
- Pasco
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
- Pasco is located in Shelby County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pasco
- Allen County
- The following are listed by their distance from Earls Island, with the one closest to Earls Island listed first.
- Spencerville
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
- Conant
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
- Conant is located in Allen County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Conant
- Fort Shawnee
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
- Fort Shawnee is located in Allen County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Shawnee
- Estimated population in 2012: 3,643 people
- Southworth
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
- Southworth is located in Allen County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Southworth
- Lima
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
- Elida
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
- Elida is located in Allen County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elida
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,810 people
- Landeck
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
- Landeck is located in Allen County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Landeck
- Westminster
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
- Westminster is located in Allen County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westminster
- Auglaize County
- The following are listed by their distance from Earls Island, with the one closest to Earls Island listed first.
- Minster
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
- New Bremen
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
- New Knoxville
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
- New Knoxville is located in Auglaize County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Knoxville
- Population from the 2020 Census: 862 people
- Saint Marys
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
- Moulton
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
- Moulton is located in Auglaize County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moulton
- Fryburg
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
- Fryburg is located in Auglaize County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fryburg
- Pusheta Town ‑ Historic
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
- Pusheta Town is located in Auglaize County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pusheta Town
- Wapakoneta
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
- Buckland
(18 miles [29 km] to the north)
- Buckland is located in Auglaize County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buckland
- Population from the 2020 Census: 221 people
- Saint Johns
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
- Saint Johns is located in Auglaize County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Johns
- Santa Fe
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
- Santa Fe is located in Auglaize County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Santa Fe
- Uniopolis
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
- Uniopolis is located in Auglaize County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Uniopolis
- Estimated population in 2016: 220 people
- Cridersville
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
- Champaign County
- The following are listed by their distance from Earls Island, with the one closest to Earls Island listed first.
- Carysville
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
- Carysville is located in Champaign County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carysville
- Saint Paris
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
- Christiansburg
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
- Millerstown
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
- Millerstown is located in Champaign County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millerstown
- Darke County
- The following are listed by their distance from Earls Island, with the one closest to Earls Island listed first.
- Yorkshire
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Osgood
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- North Star
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
- Brock
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
- Brock is located in Darke County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brock
- Frenchtown
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
- Frenchtown is located in Darke County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frenchtown
- Versailles
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
- Dawn
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
- Dawn is located in Darke County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dawn
- New Weston
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
- Rossburg
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
- Ansonia
(18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
- Ansonia is located in Darke County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ansonia
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,120 people
- Stelvideo
(18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
- Stelvideo is located in Darke County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stelvideo
- Gettysburg
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- Gettysburg is located in Darke County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gettysburg
- Population from the 2020 Census: 809 people
- Lightsville
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
- Lightsville is located in Darke County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lightsville
- Hardin County
- Roundhead
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
- Logan County
- The following are listed by their distance from Earls Island, with the one closest to Earls Island listed first.
- Quincy
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
- Logansville
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
- Logansville is located in Logan County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Logansville
- De Graff
(23 miles [37 km] to the east)
- Lakeview
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
- Russells Point
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
- Huntsville
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
- Mercer County
- The following are listed by their distance from Earls Island, with the one closest to Earls Island listed first.
- Chickasaw
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
- Montezuma
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
- Montezuma is located in Mercer County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montezuma
- Population from the 2020 Census: 158 people
- Burkettsville
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
- Saint Henry
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
- Celina
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
- Coldwater
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
- Wendelin
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
- Wendelin is located in Mercer County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wendelin
- Earley ‑ Historic
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
- Earley is located in Mercer County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Earley
- Mendon
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
- Tama
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
- Tama is located in Mercer County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tama
- Fort Recovery
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
- Macedon
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
- Macedon is located in Mercer County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Macedon
- Mercer
(23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
- Mercer is located in Mercer County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mercer
- Miami County
- The following are listed by their distance from Earls Island, with the one closest to Earls Island listed first.
- Bloomer
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Bloomer is located in Miami County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bloomer
- Polo
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Polo is located in Miami County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Polo
- Bradford
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Piqua
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Covington
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
- West Covington
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
- West Covington is located in Miami County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Covington
- Fletcher
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
- Fletcher is located in Miami County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fletcher
- Population from the 2020 Census: 486 people
- Pleasant Hill
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
- Troy
(23 miles [37 km] to the south)
- Conover
(23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
- Conover is located in Miami County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Conover
- Lena
(23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
- Lena is located in Miami County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lena
- Ludlow Falls
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
- Ludlow Falls is located in Miami County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ludlow Falls
- Population from the 2020 Census: 217 people
- Casstown
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
- Van Wert County
- The following are listed by their distance from Earls Island, with the one closest to Earls Island listed first.
- Monticello
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
- Monticello is located in Van Wert County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monticello
- Converse Station
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
- Converse Station is located in Van Wert County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Converse Station
- Converse
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
- Converse is located in Van Wert County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Converse
- Elgin
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
- Elgin is located in Van Wert County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elgin
- Population from the 2020 Census: 55 people
- Venedocia
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
- Venedocia is located in Van Wert County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Venedocia
- Population from the 2020 Census: 118 people
- Ohio City
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
- Jay County (IN)
- The following are listed by their distance from Earls Island, with the one closest to Earls Island listed first.
- Salamonia
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- Salamonia is located in Jay County (IN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salamonia
- Population from the 2020 Census: 158 people
- Trinity
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
- Trinity is located in Jay County (IN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trinity
- Jay City
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
- Jay City is located in Jay County (IN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jay City
- Boundary City
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
- Boundary City is located in Jay County (IN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boundary City
- Randolph County (IN)
- The following are listed by their distance from Earls Island, with the one closest to Earls Island listed first.
- Union City
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
- Haysville Corner
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
- Haysville Corner is located in Randolph County (IN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haysville Corner
- New Pittsburg
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
- New Pittsburg is located in Randolph County (IN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Pittsburg
- Saratoga
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Earls Island, see our County-by-County Page for Earls Island.
Cemeteries Near Earls Island ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Earls Island.
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 Earls Island - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Earls Island covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Earls Island, with the one closest to Earls Island listed first.
- Furrow Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
- Old St. Michaels Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
- St. Augustines Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
- St. Michael Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
- St. Michaels New Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
- Walkup Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
- St. Patrick Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
- Cynthian Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Galley Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Plank Road Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
- St. Josephs Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- St. Peter & St. Paul Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Continue List (482 more) ...
- New Oran Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Oran Christian Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- New Hope Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
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.<3>
While we didn't find Earls Island in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Earls Island.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Earls Island, with the one closest to Earls Island listed first.
- Minster
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
- New Bremen
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
- Oran
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Oran is located in Shelby County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oran
- McCartyville
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- McCartyville is located in Shelby County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McCartyville
- Willowdell
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Willowdell is located in Darke County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willowdell
- Kettlersville
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Osgood
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- Yorkshire
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Dawson
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
- Dawson is located in Shelby County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dawson
- Maria Stein
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- Steinman ‑ Historic
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- Steinman is located in Mercer County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Steinman
- Strakers ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- Strakers is located in Darke County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Strakers
- Continue List (15 more) ...
- Houston
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
- Houston is located in Shelby County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Houston
- Hardin
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
- Hardin is located in Shelby County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hardin
- New Knoxville
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
- New Knoxville is located in Auglaize County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Knoxville
- Population from the 2020 Census: 862 people
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Earls Island. See our List of 1890's Communities around Earls Island.
Newspapers Published in Earls Island ...
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 86 newspapers that have been published in the area around Earls Island.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Earls Island, there are papers which were published within 18 miles [29 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Earls Island.
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 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 Earls Island:
- Websites specific to Ohio
- Pages specific to Shelby County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Allen County
- Auglaize County
- Champaign County
- Darke County
- Hardin County
- Logan County
- Mercer County
- Miami County
- Van Wert County
- Jay County
- Randolph County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Ohio
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> | 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 Earls Island, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <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 from Point A (ie- Earls Island) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |