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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 Brink (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 Brink. 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 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 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.

Brink is located in Woods County.

To see how the shape of Oklahoma's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Woods County: Barber (KS), Comanche (KS), Alfalfa, Harper, Major & Woodward.

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

  • Woods County     (The home county of Brink)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Brink, with the one closest to Brink listed first.
    • Capron
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Capron is located in Woods County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Capron
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 23 people
    • Alva
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Alva is located in Woods County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alva
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,882 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Alva <1>
    • Hopeton
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Winchester
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Winchester is located in Woods County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winchester
    • Dacoma
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Avard
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Avard is located in Woods County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Avard
    • Waynoka
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Heman
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Heman is located in Woods County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heman
    • Freedom
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
  • Alfalfa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Brink, with the one closest to Brink listed first.
    • Burlington
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Ingersoll
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Ingersoll is located in Alfalfa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ingersoll
    • Cherokee
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Lambert
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Lambert is located in Alfalfa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lambert
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 6 people
    • Yewed
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Yewed is located in Alfalfa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yewed
    • Amorita
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Byron
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Byron is located in Alfalfa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Byron
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 35 people
    • Carmen
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Aline
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Vining
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Vining is located in Alfalfa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vining
    • Jet
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Jet is located in Alfalfa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jet
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 218 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Jet <1>
    • Helena
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Barber County (KS)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Brink, with the one closest to Brink listed first.
    • Stubbs
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
      • Stubbs is located in Barber County (KS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stubbs
    • Hardtner
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Kiowa
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Kiowa is located in Barber County (KS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kiowa
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 917 people
      • Kiowa has also been known as:
      • Kiowa
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Kiowa <1>
    • Eldred ‑ Historic
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Eldred is located in Barber County (KS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eldred
    • Hazelton
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Hazelton is located in Barber County (KS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hazelton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 84 people
    • Gerlane
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Gerlane is located in Barber County (KS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gerlane
    • Aetna ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Aetna is located in Barber County (KS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aetna
    • Pixley
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Pixley is located in Barber County (KS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pixley
    • Medicine Lodge
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
    • Sharon
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Sharon is located in Barber County (KS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sharon
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 142 people
      • Former name for Sharon:
      • Bible Valley
  • Harper County (KS)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Brink, with the one closest to Brink listed first.
    • Waldron
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Waldron is located in Harper County (KS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waldron
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 10 people
    • Crisfield
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Crisfield is located in Harper County (KS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crisfield
    • Ruella
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Ruella is located in Harper County (KS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ruella

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

Cemeteries Near Brink ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Brink.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Brink, with the one closest to Brink listed first.

  • Alva Municipal Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alva Municipal Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Alva Municipal Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the west of Alva.
    • The Alva Municipal Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Alva City Cemetery
    • Ancient Order of United Workmen (AOUW) Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #97863 <2>
  • Sacred Heart Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Lutheran Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Liberty Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Capron Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Capron Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Capron Cemetery is located outside and to the northeast of Capron.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #98098 <2>
  • Short Spring Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Short Springs Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Union Center Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Keith Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Manila Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Fairview Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Avard Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (60 more) ...
    • Auburn Cemetery
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Apostolic Christian Cemetery
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Apostolic Christian Cemetery
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Apostolic Christian Cemetery is located less than 2 miles<3> to the southeast of Burlington.
      • The Apostolic Christian Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Apostolic Cemetery
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #97876 <2>
    • Star Cemetery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)

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.<4>

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

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

  • Alva
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Alva is located in Woods County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alva
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,882 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Alva <1>
  • Noel
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Noel is located in Woods County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Noel
  • Winchester
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Winchester is located in Woods County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winchester
  • Hardtner
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
  • Driftwood
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Driftwood is located in Alfalfa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Driftwood
  • Kiowa
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Kiowa is located in Barber County (KS)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kiowa
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 917 people
    • Kiowa has also been known as:
    • Kiowa
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Kiowa <1>
  • Cherokee
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Eldred ‑ Historic
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Eldred is located in Barber County (KS)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eldred
  • Cora
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Cora is located in Woods County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cora
  • Hazelton
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Hazelton is located in Barber County (KS)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hazelton
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 84 people
  • Waynoka
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Corwin
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Corwin is located in Harper County (KS)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Corwin
  • Continue List   (8 more) ...
    • Aline
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Aetna ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Aetna is located in Barber County (KS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aetna
    • Jet
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Jet is located in Alfalfa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jet
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 218 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Jet <1>

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

Newspapers Published in Brink ...

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 75 newspapers that have been published in the area around Brink.

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

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin 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 Brink:

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>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- Brink) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<4>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 Brink, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.