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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 Arcadia (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 Arcadia. 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 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.

Arcadia is located in Galveston 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 Galveston County: Brazoria & Harris.

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

  • Galveston County     (The home county of Arcadia)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Arcadia, with the one closest to Arcadia listed first.
    • Santa Fe
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Hitchcock
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Dickinson
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • La Marque
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • League City
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Carmel Village
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Carmel Village is located in Galveston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carmel Village
    • Texas City Terminal Junction
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Friendswood
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Parkwood Village
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Parkwood Village is located in Galveston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parkwood Village
    • South Shore Village
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
      • South Shore Village is located in Galveston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Shore Village
    • Bayou Vista
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Bayou Vista is located in Galveston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bayou Vista
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,637 people
    • Bacliff
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Kemah
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Kemah is located in Galveston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kemah
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,048 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Kemah <1>
  • Brazoria County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Arcadia, with the one closest to Arcadia listed first.
    • Hillcrest
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Alvin
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Liverpool
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Woodcreek
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Westwood Village
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Westwood Village is located in Brazoria County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westwood Village
    • Manvel
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Manvel is located in Brazoria County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manvel
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 13,867 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Manvel <1>
    • Pearland
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • West Oaks Village
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • West Oaks Village is located in Brazoria County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Oaks Village
    • Danbury
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Brookside Village
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Fairway Village
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Fairway Village is located in Brazoria County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairway Village
    • Iowa Colony
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
      • Iowa Colony is located in Brazoria County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iowa Colony
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,888 people
    • Bonney
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
  • Chambers County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Arcadia, with the one closest to Arcadia listed first.
    • Seabrook
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Shoreacres
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Shoreacres is located in Chambers County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shoreacres
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,578 people
    • Smith Point
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Baytown
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Beach City
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Beach City is located in Chambers County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beach City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,825 people
  • Fort Bend County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Arcadia, with the one closest to Arcadia listed first.
    • Juliff
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Fresno
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Arcola
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
      • Arcola is located in Fort Bend County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arcola
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,775 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Arcola <1>
    • Hawdon
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Sienna Plantation
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Sienna Plantation is located in Fort Bend County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sienna Plantation
    • Trammels
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Dewalt
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Missouri City
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Fifth Street
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Fifth Street is located in Fort Bend County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fifth Street
    • Stafford
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Harris County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Arcadia, with the one closest to Arcadia listed first.
    • Baybrook Village
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
      • Baybrook Village is located in Harris County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baybrook Village
    • Webster
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Clear Lake City
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Nassau Bay
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • El Lago
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Taylor Lake Village
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Mystic Village
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Mystic Village is located in Harris County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mystic Village
    • Gateway Village
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Gateway Village is located in Harris County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gateway Village
    • Genoa
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Genoa is located in Harris County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Genoa
    • Parkland Village
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • La Porte
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • South Houston
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Deer Park
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)

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

Cemeteries Near Arcadia ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Arcadia.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Arcadia, with the one closest to Arcadia 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.<3>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Arcadia had a post office and railroad service.

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

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

Newspapers Published in Arcadia ...

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 37 newspapers that have been published in the area around Arcadia.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Arcadia, there are papers which were published within 15 miles [24.1 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Arcadia.

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 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 Arcadia:

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