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The Commemorative Quarter for Texas





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 Black Oak (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 Black Oak. 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 Black Oak ...

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.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might have occurred.

Another variation: Blackoak.

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 ...

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 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 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.

Black Oak is located in Hopkins 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 Hopkins County: Delta, Franklin, Hunt, Lamar, Rains, Red River & Wood.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Black Oak ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Black Oak.

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 Black Oak covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Rock Hill Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rock Hill Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rock Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Coffee Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Coffee Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Coffee Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • New Pickton Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the New Pickton Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the New Pickton Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hay Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Lee Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lee Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lee Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Woodland Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Woodland Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Woodland Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Gamblin Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Gamblin Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Gamblin Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Yantis Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Sharp Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sharp Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sharp Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Price Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • City Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Searcy Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Searcy Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Searcy Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (168 more) ...
    • McGee Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Seymore Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Seymore Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Seymore Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Peyton Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Peyton Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Peyton 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.<5>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Black Oak had a population of 24 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Coke
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Pickton
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pickton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pickton
    • Pickton is located in Hopkins County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Pickton <2>
  • Como
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Reilly Springs
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Reilly Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reilly Springs
    • Reilly Springs is located in Hopkins County
  • Yantis
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Yantis have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yantis
    • Yantis is located in Wood County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 425 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Yantis <2>
  • Winnsboro
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Winnsboro have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winnsboro
    • Winnsboro is located in Franklin County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,330 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Winnsboro <2>
  • Stout
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Stout. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stout
    • Stout is located in Wood County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Stout
    • From Black Oak to Stout
  • Pine Forest
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pine Forest have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Forest
    • Pine Forest is located in Hopkins County
  • Quitman
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
  • Purley
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Purley. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Purley
    • Purley is located in Franklin County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Purley
    • From Black Oak to Purley
  • Tazewell
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Weaver
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in Black Oak ...

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 46 newspapers that have been published in the area around Black Oak.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Black Oak, there are papers which were published within 26 miles [41.8 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Black Oak.

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 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 Black Oak:

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

The official website for Hopkins County: www.hopkinscountytx.org/

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>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 Black Oak, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Black Oak) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Black Oak. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.9722, Longitude: -95.4309    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025