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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 Bolivar Peninsula (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 Bolivar Peninsula. 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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors were in the next county to the east. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the south.

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 south 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.

Bolivar Peninsula 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 Bolivar Peninsula. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Bolivar Peninsula:

  • Galveston County     (The home county of Bolivar Peninsula)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bolivar Peninsula, with the one closest to Bolivar Peninsula listed first.
    • Caplen
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Caplen is located in Galveston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Caplen
    • Crystal Beach
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Gilchrist
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • High Island
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Port Bolivar
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Galveston
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • San Leon
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Texas City
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Texas City Junction
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Texas City Junction is located in Galveston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Texas City Junction
    • Tiki Island
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Tiki Island is located in Galveston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tiki Island
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,072 people
      • Tiki Island has also been known as:
      • Village of Tiki Island
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Tiki Island <1>
    • Bayou Vista
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Bayou Vista is located in Galveston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bayou Vista
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,637 people
    • Bacliff
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
  • Chambers County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bolivar Peninsula, with the one closest to Bolivar Peninsula listed first.
    • Smith Point
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
      • Smith Point is located in Chambers County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smith Point
    • Double Bayou
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Double Bayou is located in Chambers County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Double Bayou
    • Anahuac
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Monroe City
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Monroe City is located in Chambers County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monroe City
    • Turtle Bayou
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Turtle Bayou is located in Chambers County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turtle Bayou
    • Stowell
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Beach City
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Beach City is located in Chambers County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beach City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,825 people
    • Hankamer
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Wallisville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Winnie
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Cove
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Cove is located in Chambers County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cove
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 586 people
    • Seabrook
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
  • Harris County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bolivar Peninsula, with the one closest to Bolivar Peninsula listed first.
    • Mystic Village
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Mystic Village is located in Harris County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mystic Village
    • Morgan's Point
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Morgan's Point is located in Harris County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Morgan's Point
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 337 people
    • El Lago
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Gateway Village
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Gateway Village is located in Harris County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gateway Village
    • Cedar Bayou
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Cedar Bayou is located in Harris County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Bayou
    • Chaparral Village
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Chaparral Village is located in Harris County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chaparral Village
    • La Porte
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Taylor Lake Village
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Nassau Bay
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Jefferson County

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

Cemeteries Near Bolivar Peninsula ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Bolivar Peninsula.

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 Bolivar Peninsula - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Port Bolivar Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Frankland Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Davis Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Jackson Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
  • Godfrey Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
  • Mt. Zion Baptist Church Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
  • Evergreen Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
  • Crook Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
  • Beth Jacob Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Calvary Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Galveston Municipal Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Greek Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (45 more) ...

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.<4>

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

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

  • Smith Point
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Smith Point is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smith Point
  • Double Bayou
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Double Bayou is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Double Bayou
  • Galveston
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
  • Anahuac
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
  • Virginia Point
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Virginia Point is located in Galveston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Virginia Point
  • La Marque
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
  • Turtle Bayou
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Turtle Bayou is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turtle Bayou
  • Wallisville
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
  • Dickinson
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
  • Cedar Bayou
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Cedar Bayou is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Bayou

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

Newspapers Published in Bolivar Peninsula ...

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 203 newspapers that have been published in the area around Bolivar Peninsula.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Bolivar Peninsula, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Bolivar Peninsula.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 Bolivar Peninsula:

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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Bolivar Peninsula) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<4>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 Bolivar Peninsula, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.