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

Arah is located in Scurry County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Scurry County: Borden, Fisher, Garza, Howard, Kent, Mitchell & Nolan.

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

  • Scurry County     (The home county of Arah)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Arah, with the one closest to Arah listed first.
    • Fluvanna
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fluvanna have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fluvanna
      • Fluvanna is located in Scurry County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fluvanna <2>
    • Snyder
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Ira
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ira have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ira
      • Ira is located in Scurry County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ira <2>
    • Dunn
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dunn have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dunn
      • Dunn is located in Scurry County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Dunn <2>
    • Hermleigh
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
  • Borden County
  • Garza County
  • Howard County
  • Mitchell County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Arah, with the one closest to Arah listed first.
    • Cuthbert ‑ Historic
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cuthbert have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cuthbert
      • Cuthbert is located in Mitchell County
    • Buford
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buford
      • Buford is located in Mitchell County
    • Westbrook
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Westbrook have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westbrook
      • Westbrook is located in Mitchell County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 252 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Westbrook <2>
    • Iatan
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Iatan. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iatan
      • Iatan is located in Mitchell County
    • Colorado City
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Colorado City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colorado City
      • Colorado City is located in Mitchell County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,875 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Colorado City <2>

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

Cemeteries Near Arah ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Arah.

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.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

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

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

  • York Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the York Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the York Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #7794 <4>
  • Fluvanna Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Durham Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Durham Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Durham Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #3316 <4>
  • Bookout Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Bluff Creek Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bluff Creek Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bluff Creek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Snyder Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Snyder Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Snyder Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hillside Memorial Gardens
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
  • Gail Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Gail Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Gail Cemetery is located outside and to the northeast of Gail.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1980096 <4>
  • Polar Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Polar Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Polar Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Fairview Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fairview Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fairview Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #3536 <4>
  • Vincent Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Vincent Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Vincent Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Justiceburg Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Handley Cemetery
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Hermleigh Cemetery
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Camp Springs Cemetery
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Camp Springs Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Camp Springs Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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.<6>

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

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

  • Knapp
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Knapp have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knapp
    • Knapp is located in Scurry County
  • Snyder
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
  • Ira
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ira have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ira
    • Ira is located in Scurry County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ira <2>
  • Gail
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
  • Cuthbert ‑ Historic
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cuthbert have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cuthbert
    • Cuthbert is located in Mitchell County
  • Westbrook
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Westbrook have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westbrook
    • Westbrook is located in Mitchell County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 252 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Westbrook <2>

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

Newspapers Published in Arah ...

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 14 newspapers that have been published in the area around Arah.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Arah, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Arah.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we start 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 Arah:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Arah. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for State of Texas: https://texas.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<4>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.
<5>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Arah) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Arah. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.7582, Longitude: -101.1351       In this case, the coordinates for Arah have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>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 Arah, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025