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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 Hancock (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 Hancock. 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 hospitals and 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.

Hancock is located in Hancock 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 Hancock County: Allen, Hardin, Henry, Putnam, Seneca, Wood & Wyandot.

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

  • Hancock County     (The home county of Hancock)
  • Allen County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hancock, with the one closest to Hancock listed first.
    • Bluffton
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Beaverdam
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Cairo
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Cairo is located in Allen County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cairo
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 520 people
    • West Cairo
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • West Cairo is located in Allen County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Cairo
    • Lafayette
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Gomer
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Defiance County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hancock, with the one closest to Hancock listed first.
    • Ayersville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Jewell
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Defiance
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Williamstown
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Williamstown is located in Defiance County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Williamstown
    • Brunersburg
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Brunersburg is located in Defiance County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brunersburg
  • Fulton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hancock, with the one closest to Hancock listed first.
    • Plattston ‑ Historic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Swanton
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Delta
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
    • West Delta
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
  • Hardin County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hancock, with the one closest to Hancock listed first.
    • Ada
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Ada is located in Hardin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ada
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,532 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ada <1>
    • Dola
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Dunkirk
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Alger
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
    • Huntersville
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Huntersville is located in Hardin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huntersville
    • Forest
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Patterson
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Patterson is located in Hardin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Patterson
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 135 people
  • Henry County
  • Lucas County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hancock, with the one closest to Hancock listed first.
    • Bailey ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Bailey is located in Lucas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bailey
      • Bailey has also been known as:
      • Bailey Station
    • Tondagamies Village ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Tondagamies Village is located in Lucas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tondagamies Village
    • Waterville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Whitehouse
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Maumee
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
  • Paulding County
  • Putnam County
  • Seneca County
  • Wood County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hancock, with the one closest to Hancock listed first.
    • Hoytville
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Custar
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • North Baltimore
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Hammansburg
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Milton Center
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Bairdstown
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Cygnet
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Weston
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Jerry City
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Jerry City is located in Wood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jerry City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 437 people
    • Bloomdale
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Eagleville
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Portage
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Portage is located in Wood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Portage
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 490 people
  • Wyandot County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hancock, with the one closest to Hancock listed first.
    • Carey
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Wharton
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Wharton is located in Wyandot County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wharton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 338 people

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

Cemeteries Near Hancock ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Hancock.

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 Hancock - one of the links might be able to help.

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Hancock covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Hancock, with the one closest to Hancock 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.<3>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Hancock had railroad service and no post office.

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

  • Deweyville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Deweyville is located in Hancock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deweyville
  • Shawtown
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Shawtown is located in Hancock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shawtown
  • Townwood
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • McComb
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Hoytville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Deshler
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Belmore
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Belmore is located in Putnam County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belmore
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 143 people
  • Portage Center
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Portage Center is located in Hancock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Portage Center
  • Leipsic Junction
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Leipsic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • West Leipsic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Haney ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Haney is located in Wood County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haney
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Custar
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Moffitt ‑ Historic
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Chase
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Chase is located in Hancock County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chase

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

Newspapers Published in Hancock ...

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 133 newspapers that have been published in the area around Hancock.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Hancock, there are papers which were published within 23 miles [37 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Hancock.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 Hancock:

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 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.
<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 Hancock, 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Hancock) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.