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 Bessie Heights (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 Bessie Heights. 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.
Name Variations for Bessie Heights ...
When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.
For example, a typical abbreviation for Bessie Heights: Bessie Hts. (in Canada, 'Hgts.' is the more common abbreviation.)
If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.
Neighboring Counties/Parishes ...
When searching for family records, we have frequently made the mistake of not checking the neighboring counties/parishes.
For example, we have great-grandparents who lived in the northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors 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/parishes 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/parishes, we would have missed many valuable sources of information.
If you're in a similar situation, we hope that the following information helps.
Bessie Heights is located in Orange 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 Orange County: Calcasieu (LA), Cameron (LA), Hardin, Jasper, Jefferson & Newton.
Below are the counties/parishes that are near Bessie Heights. For each of these counties/parishes, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Bessie Heights:
- Orange County (The home county of Bessie Heights)
- The following are listed by their distance from Bessie Heights, with the one closest to Bessie Heights listed first.
- Terry
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
- Terry is located in Orange County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Terry
- Bridge City
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Orangefield
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- Vidor
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
- Rose City
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
- Rose City is located in Orange County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rose City
- Population from the 2020 Census: 489 people
- West Orange
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
- Pinehurst
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
- Pinehurst is located in Orange County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pinehurst
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,959 people
- Orange
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
- Mauriceville
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
- Pine Forest
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
- Pine Forest is located in Orange County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Forest
- Population from the 2020 Census: 516 people
- Pine Grove
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
- Pine Grove is located in Orange County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Grove
- Lemonville ‑ Historic
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
- Lemonville is located in Orange County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lemonville
- Hardin County
- The following are listed by their distance from Bessie Heights, with the one closest to Bessie Heights listed first.
- Loeb
(18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
- Loeb is located in Hardin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loeb
- Rose Hill Acres
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
- Rose Hill Acres is located in Hardin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rose Hill Acres
- Population from the 2020 Census: 435 people
- Lumberton
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
- Silsbee
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
- Pinewood Estates
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
- Pinewood Estates is located in Hardin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pinewood Estates
- Grayburg
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
- Grayburg is located in Hardin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grayburg
- Sour Lake
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
- Jasper County
- The following are listed by their distance from Bessie Heights, with the one closest to Bessie Heights listed first.
- Evadale
(23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
- Bunker Hill
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
- Bunker Hill is located in Jasper County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bunker Hill
- Buna
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
- Jefferson County
- The following are listed by their distance from Bessie Heights, with the one closest to Bessie Heights listed first.
- Groves
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Central Gardens
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Central Gardens is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Central Gardens
- Port Neches
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Nederland
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Higgins
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
- Higgins is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Higgins
- Port Arthur
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
- Port Acres
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
- Beaumont
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
- Amelia
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
- Amelia is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Amelia
- Taylor Landing
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
- Taylor Landing is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Taylor Landing
- Population from the 2020 Census: 237 people
- La Belle
(18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
- La Belle is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Belle
- Voth
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
- Newton County
- Deweyville
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
- Calcasieu Parish (LA)
- The following are listed by their distance from Bessie Heights, with the one closest to Bessie Heights listed first.
- Vinton
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
- Vinton is located in Calcasieu Parish (LA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vinton
- Population from the 2020 Census: 3,211 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Vinton <1>
- Starks
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
- Edgerly
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
- Edgerly is located in Calcasieu Parish (LA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edgerly
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Bessie Heights, see our County-by-County Page for Bessie Heights.
Cemeteries Near Bessie Heights ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Bessie Heights.
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 Bessie Heights - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Bessie Heights covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Bessie Heights, with the one closest to Bessie Heights listed first.
- Thomas Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the north)
- Adcock Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
- Kishi Colony Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- Williams Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
- Stephenson Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- Granger Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Floyd Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Winfree Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Hillcrest Memorial Gardens
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- Dorman Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Bland Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Mansfield Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
- Continue List (64 more) ...
- Forest Lawn Memorial Park
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Singleton Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
- Greenlawn Memorial Park
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
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 Bessie Heights in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Bessie Heights.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Bessie Heights, with the one closest to Bessie Heights listed first.
- Terry
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
- Terry is located in Orange County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Terry
- Tulane
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Tulane is located in Orange County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tulane
- Orange
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
- Echo
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
- Echo is located in Orange County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Echo
- Beaumont
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
- Rosedale
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
- Rosedale is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosedale
- Amelia
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
- Amelia is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Amelia
- La Belle
(18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
- La Belle is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Belle
- Pine Island
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
- Pine Island is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Island
- Continue List (6 more) ...
- Sabine Pass
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
- Vinton
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
- Vinton is located in Calcasieu Parish (LA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vinton
- Population from the 2020 Census: 3,211 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Vinton <1>
- China
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
- Johnsons Bayou
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
- Johnsons Bayou is located in Cameron Parish (LA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johnsons Bayou
- Edgerly
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
- Edgerly is located in Calcasieu Parish (LA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edgerly
- Nona
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
- Nona is located in Hardin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nona
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Bessie Heights. See our List of 1890's Communities around Bessie Heights.
Newspapers Published in Bessie Heights ...
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 34 newspapers that have been published in the area around Bessie Heights.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Bessie Heights, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Bessie Heights.
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 Bessie Heights:
- Websites specific to Texas
- Pages specific to Orange County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Hardin County
- Jasper County
- Jefferson County
- Newton County
- Calcasieu Parish
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Texas
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 Bessie Heights, 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- Bessie Heights) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |