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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 Tupelo (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 Tupelo. 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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.

Tupelo is located in Coal 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 Coal County: Atoka, Hughes, Johnston, Pittsburg & Pontotoc.

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

  • Coal County     (The home county of Tupelo)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Tupelo, with the one closest to Tupelo listed first.
    • Centrahoma
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Clarita
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Coalgate
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Phillips
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Phillips is located in Coal County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Phillips
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 130 people
    • Lehigh
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Atoka County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Tupelo, with the one closest to Tupelo listed first.
    • Wardville
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Atoka
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Stringtown
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Tushka
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Tushka is located in Atoka County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tushka
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 400 people
    • Bruno
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Bruno is located in Atoka County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bruno
    • Caney
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Hughes County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Tupelo, with the one closest to Tupelo listed first.
    • Citra
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Citra is located in Hughes County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Citra
    • Non
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Non is located in Hughes County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Non
    • Gerty
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Gerty is located in Hughes County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gerty
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 109 people
    • Atwood
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Calvin
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Stuart
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Spaulding
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Spaulding is located in Hughes County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spaulding
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 171 people
  • Johnston County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Tupelo, with the one closest to Tupelo listed first.
    • Bromide
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Wapanucka
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Connerville
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Coleman
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Reagan
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Reagan is located in Johnston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reagan
    • Milburn
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Mill Creek
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Tishomingo
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Murray County
    • Hickory
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Hickory is located in Murray County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 75 people
  • Pittsburg County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Tupelo, with the one closest to Tupelo listed first.
    • Ashland
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Ashland is located in Pittsburg County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ashland
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 63 people
    • Kiowa
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Kiowa is located in Pittsburg County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kiowa
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 676 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Kiowa <1>
  • Pontotoc County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Tupelo, with the one closest to Tupelo listed first.
    • Lula
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Lula is located in Pontotoc County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lula
    • Stonewall
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jesse
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Jesse is located in Pontotoc County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jesse
    • Harden City
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Harden City is located in Pontotoc County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harden City
    • Fittstown
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Franks
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • Franks is located in Pontotoc County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Franks
    • Ahloso
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Ahloso is located in Pontotoc County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ahloso
    • Homer
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Homer is located in Pontotoc County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homer
    • Ada
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Ada is located in Pontotoc County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ada
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 17,239 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ada <1>
    • Allen
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Oakman
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Oakman is located in Pontotoc County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakman
    • Fitzhugh
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
  • Seminole County
    • Sasakwa
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)

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

Cemeteries Near Tupelo ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Tupelo.

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

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

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

  • Byrds Prairie Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
  • Centrahoma Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Pleasant Hill Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Wilson Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Round Lake Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Pleasant Grove Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Lula Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Jesse Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Highland Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Keel Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Nixon Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Globe Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (179 more) ...
    • Moore Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Davis Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Boiling Spring Indian Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)

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 Tupelo in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Tupelo.

  • Francis
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)

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

Newspapers Published in Tupelo ...

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 Tupelo.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Tupelo, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Tupelo.

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 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 Tupelo:

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 Tupelo, 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- Tupelo) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.