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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 Spavinaw (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 Spavinaw. 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.

Spavinaw is located in Mayes 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 Mayes County: Cherokee, Craig, Delaware, Rogers & Wagoner.

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

  • Mayes County     (The home county of Spavinaw)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Spavinaw, with the one closest to Spavinaw listed first.
    • Hoot Owl
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Hoot Owl is located in Mayes County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hoot Owl
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4 people
    • Langley
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Strang
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Disney
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Pensacola
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Grand Lake Towne
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Grand Lake Towne is located in Mayes County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Lake Towne
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 74 people
    • Wickliffe
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Wickliffe is located in Mayes County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wickliffe
    • Pump Back
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Salina
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Rose
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Adair
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Locust Grove
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Snake Creek
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • Snake Creek is located in Mayes County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Snake Creek
  • Adair County
  • Cherokee County
  • Craig County
  • Delaware County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Spavinaw, with the one closest to Spavinaw listed first.
    • Old Eucha
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Old Eucha is located in Delaware County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Eucha
    • Tagg Flats
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Tagg Flats is located in Delaware County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tagg Flats
    • Eucha
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • New Eucha
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
      • New Eucha is located in Delaware County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Eucha
    • Bull Hollow
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Bull Hollow is located in Delaware County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bull Hollow
    • Cleora
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Cleora is located in Delaware County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cleora
    • Dennis
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Dennis is located in Delaware County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dennis
    • Zena
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Zena is located in Delaware County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zena
    • Brush Creek
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
      • Brush Creek is located in Delaware County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brush Creek
    • Jay
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Leach
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Leach is located in Delaware County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leach
    • Rocky Ford
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Rocky Ford is located in Delaware County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Ford
    • Twin Oaks
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Nowata County
    • New Alluwe
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • New Alluwe is located in Nowata County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Alluwe
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 85 people
  • Ottawa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Spavinaw, with the one closest to Spavinaw listed first.
    • Afton
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Fairland
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Narcissa
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Narcissa is located in Ottawa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Narcissa
  • Rogers County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Spavinaw, with the one closest to Spavinaw listed first.
    • Chelsea
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Bushyhead
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Bushyhead is located in Rogers County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bushyhead
    • Foyil
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Sequoyah
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Justice
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Justice is located in Rogers County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Justice
    • Tiawah
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Tiawah is located in Rogers County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tiawah
  • Benton County (AR)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Spavinaw, with the one closest to Spavinaw listed first.
    • Maysville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Rome City ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Rome City is located in Benton County (AR)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rome City
    • Cherokee City
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Pactolus ‑ Historic
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Pactolus is located in Benton County (AR)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pactolus
  • McDonald County (MO)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Spavinaw, with the one closest to Spavinaw listed first.
    • South West City
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Tiff City
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Tiff City is located in McDonald County (MO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tiff City

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

Cemeteries Near Spavinaw ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Spavinaw.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Spavinaw, with the one closest to Spavinaw 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.<4>

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

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

  • Maysville
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
  • South West City
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
  • Cherokee City
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
  • Pactolus ‑ Historic
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Pactolus is located in Benton County (AR)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pactolus
  • Bloomfield
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Bloomfield is located in Benton County (AR)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bloomfield
  • Beaty
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Beaty is located in Benton County (AR)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beaty
  • Saratoga
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Saratoga is located in McDonald County (MO)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saratoga

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

Newspapers Published in Spavinaw ...

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 76 newspapers that have been published in the area around Spavinaw.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Spavinaw, there are papers which were published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Spavinaw.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 Spavinaw:

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>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- Spavinaw) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<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 Spavinaw, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.