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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 Allen (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 Allen. 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 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.

Allen is located in Collin County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Collin County: Dallas, Denton, Fannin, Grayson, Hunt & Rockwall.

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

  • Collin County     (The home county of Allen)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Allen, with the one closest to Allen listed first.
    • Fairview
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Parker
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Lucas
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Lucas is located in Collin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lucas
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 8,819 people
    • McKinney
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Plano
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Plano is located in Collin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plano
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 291,296 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Plano <1>
    • Murphy
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Lowry Crossing
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Lowry Crossing is located in Collin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lowry Crossing
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,743 people
    • Saint Paul
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Saint Paul is located in Collin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Paul
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,039 people
    • Biggers ‑ Historic
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Biggers is located in Collin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Biggers
    • New Hope
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • New Hope is located in Collin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Hope
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 641 people
    • Rockhill
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Rockhill is located in Collin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockhill
    • Frisco
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Clear Lake
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
      • Clear Lake is located in Collin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clear Lake
  • Comanche County
    • Cross Roads
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Cross Roads is located in Comanche County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cross Roads
  • Dallas County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Allen, with the one closest to Allen listed first.
    • Richardson
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Buckingham
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
      • Buckingham is located in Dallas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buckingham
    • Garland
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Addison
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Rowlett
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Trinity Mills
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Trinity Mills is located in Dallas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trinity Mills
    • Centerville
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
      • Centerville is located in Dallas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centerville
    • Farmers Branch
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Rawlins
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Rawlins is located in Dallas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rawlins
    • University Park
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Lewisville
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Highland Park
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Coppell
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Denton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Allen, with the one closest to Allen listed first.
    • The Colony
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Hackberry
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Hackberry is located in Denton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hackberry
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,094 people
    • Little Elm
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Lakewood Village
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Lakewood Village is located in Denton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakewood Village
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,002 people
    • Providence Village
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Providence Village is located in Denton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Providence Village
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 7,564 people
    • Lincoln Park
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Lincoln Park is located in Denton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln Park
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 567 people
    • Oak Point
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Cross Roads
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Hickory Creek
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Lake Dallas
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Krugerville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Krugerville is located in Denton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Krugerville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,871 people
    • Shady Shores
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Shady Shores is located in Denton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Shores
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,958 people
    • Aubrey
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Fannin County
    • Trenton
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Grayson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Allen, with the one closest to Allen listed first.
    • Gunter
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Cannon
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Cannon is located in Grayson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cannon
    • Pilot Grove
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Pilot Grove is located in Grayson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pilot Grove
    • Howe
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Howe is located in Grayson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Howe
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,390 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Howe <1>
    • Tioga
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Tioga is located in Grayson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tioga
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,117 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Tioga <1>
    • Dorchester
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Dorchester is located in Grayson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dorchester
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 96 people
    • Tom Bean
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
  • Hunt County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Allen, with the one closest to Allen listed first.
    • Merit
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Caddo Mills
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Clinton
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Clinton is located in Hunt County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clinton
    • Hendrix
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Hendrix is located in Hunt County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hendrix
    • Union Valley
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Union Valley is located in Hunt County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Valley
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 461 people
    • Kingston
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Kingston is located in Hunt County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingston
    • Celeste
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Kaufman County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Allen, with the one closest to Allen listed first.
    • Heath
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Heath is located in Kaufman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heath
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,718 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Heath <1>
    • Forney
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Rockwall County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Allen, with the one closest to Allen listed first.
    • Rockwall
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Fate
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Fate is located in Rockwall County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fate
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 17,434 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fate <1>
    • Mobile City
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Mobile City is located in Rockwall County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mobile City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 208 people
    • Blackland
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Blackland is located in Rockwall County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blackland
    • McLendon - Chisholm
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • McLendon - Chisholm is located in Rockwall County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McLendon - Chisholm
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,815 people
  • Tarrant County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Allen, with the one closest to Allen listed first.
    • Minters Chapel ‑ Historic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Minters Chapel is located in Tarrant County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minters Chapel
    • Euless
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Allen ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Allen.

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

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

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

  • Allen Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
  • Stimson Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • Rowlett Creek Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Bethany Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Bowman Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Fitzhugh Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Williams Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Williams Cemetery
    • The Williams Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Williams / Mt. Olive Cemetery
  • Mutual Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Plano Mutual Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Scalf Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Pecan Grove Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Pine Grove Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (231 more) ...
    • Old Plano City Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Plano City Cemetery
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Old Plano City Cemetery is located in Plano.
      • The Old Plano City Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Pioneer Cemetery
      • Plano Cemetery
      • Plano Pioneer Cemetery
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2183403 <2>
    • McMillan Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Moulden Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Allen had a population of 115 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Allen had a population of 109,379 people.

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

  • Parker
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Lucas
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Lucas is located in Collin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lucas
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 8,819 people
  • Plano
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Plano is located in Collin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plano
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 291,296 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Plano <1>
  • McKinney
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Murphy
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Lebanon
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Lebanon is located in Collin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lebanon
  • Saint Paul
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Saint Paul is located in Collin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Paul
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,039 people
  • Renner
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Renner is located in Collin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Renner
  • Sachse
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Wylie
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Wylie is located in Collin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wylie
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 54,467 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wylie <1>
  • Princeton
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Richardson
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Rhea Mills
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
      • Rhea Mills is located in Collin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rhea Mills
    • Roland
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
      • Roland is located in Collin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roland
    • Hebron
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • Hebron is located in Collin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hebron
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 212 people

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Allen ...

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 218 newspapers that have been published in the area around Allen.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Allen. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Allen and those printed in the larger area surrounding Allen.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 24 miles [38.6 km]<4> of Allen.

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 professional and volunteer 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 Allen:

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