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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 Bon Ami (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 Bon Ami. 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 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.

Bon Ami is located in Jasper 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 Jasper County: Angelina, Hardin, Newton, Orange, Sabine, San Augustine & Tyler.

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

  • Jasper County     (The home county of Bon Ami)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bon Ami, with the one closest to Bon Ami listed first.
    • Kirbyville
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Call Junction
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
      • Call Junction is located in Jasper County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Call Junction
    • Jasper
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Beech Grove
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Beech Grove is located in Jasper County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beech Grove
    • Buna
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Bunker Hill
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Bunker Hill is located in Jasper County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bunker Hill
    • Sam Rayburn
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Evadale
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Browndell
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Browndell is located in Jasper County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Browndell
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 204 people
    • Harveytown
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Harveytown is located in Jasper County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harveytown
  • Hardin County
    • Silsbee
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Newton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bon Ami, with the one closest to Bon Ami listed first.
    • Bleakwood
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Bleakwood is located in Newton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bleakwood
    • Call
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Newton
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Bon Wier
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Hughes ‑ Historic
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • Hughes is located in Newton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hughes
    • Shanklerville
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Shanklerville is located in Newton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shanklerville
    • Wiergate
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Burkeville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Deweyville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
  • San Augustine County
    • Powell
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Powell is located in San Augustine County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Powell
  • Tyler County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bon Ami, with the one closest to Bon Ami listed first.
    • Spurger
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Town Bluff
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
      • Town Bluff is located in Tyler County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Town Bluff
    • Fred
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Hillister
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
  • Beauregard Parish (LA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bon Ami, with the one closest to Bon Ami listed first.
    • Merryville
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Newlin
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Newlin is located in Beauregard Parish (LA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newlin
    • Singer
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Helme
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Helme is located in Beauregard Parish (LA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Helme
  • Calcasieu Parish (LA)
    • Starks
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Vernon Parish (LA)
    • Evans
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Bon Ami ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Bon Ami.

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 Bon Ami - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Bean Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Kyle Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Wilkinson Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Biloxi Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Wilson Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Odom Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • McLemore Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Boyett Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Hughes Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Herrin Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Smith Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Davis Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (94 more) ...
    • Big Spring Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Dunn Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Withers Cemetery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)

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.<2>

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

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

  • Bleakwood
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Bleakwood is located in Newton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bleakwood
  • Erin
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Erin is located in Jasper County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erin
  • Magnolia Springs
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Magnolia Springs is located in Jasper County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magnolia Springs
  • Newton
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Belgrade
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Belgrade is located in Newton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belgrade
  • Jasper
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Beech Grove
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Beech Grove is located in Jasper County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beech Grove
  • Spurger
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
  • Town Bluff
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Town Bluff is located in Tyler County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Town Bluff
  • Farrsville
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Farrsville is located in Newton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farrsville
  • Burkeville
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
  • Hillister
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)

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

Newspapers Published in Bon Ami ...

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 20 newspapers that have been published in the area around Bon Ami.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Bon Ami, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Bon Ami.

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 professional and volunteer 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 Bon Ami:

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>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 Bon Ami, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Bon Ami) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.