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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 Brad (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 Brad. 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.

Brad is located in Palo Pinto 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 Palo Pinto County: Eastland, Erath, Hood, Jack, Parker, Stephens & Young.

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

  • Palo Pinto County     (The home county of Brad)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Brad, with the one closest to Brad listed first.
    • Palo Pinto
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Palo Pinto have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palo Pinto
      • Palo Pinto is located in Palo Pinto County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Palo Pinto <2>
    • Strawn
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Mingus
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mingus have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mingus
      • Mingus is located in Palo Pinto County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 256 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mingus <2>
    • Gordon
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Graford
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Graford have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Graford
      • Graford is located in Palo Pinto County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 631 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Graford <2>
    • Santo
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Santo. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Santo
      • Santo is located in Palo Pinto County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Santo <2>
    • Brazos
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brazos
      • Brazos is located in Palo Pinto County
    • Mineral Wells
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mineral Wells have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mineral Wells
      • Mineral Wells is located in Palo Pinto County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 15,219 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mineral Wells <2>
    • Wolters Village
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wolters Village
      • Wolters Village is located in Palo Pinto County
    • Salesville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salesville
      • Salesville is located in Palo Pinto County
  • Eastland County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Brad, with the one closest to Brad listed first.
    • Ranger
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Ranger. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ranger
      • Ranger is located in Eastland County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,354 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ranger <2>
    • Olden
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Eastland
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Erath County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Brad, with the one closest to Brad listed first.
    • Thurber
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Hannibal
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Hannibal. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hannibal
      • Hannibal is located in Erath County
  • Jack County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Brad, with the one closest to Brad listed first.
    • Bryson
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bryson have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bryson
      • Bryson is located in Jack County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 533 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bryson <2>
    • Bob Town
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bob Town have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bob Town
      • Bob Town is located in Jack County
  • Parker County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Brad, with the one closest to Brad listed first.
    • Millsap
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Cool
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cool have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cool
      • Cool is located in Parker County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 191 people
  • Stephens County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Brad, with the one closest to Brad listed first.
    • Caddo
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • La Casa ‑ Historic
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Casa
      • La Casa is located in Stephens County
    • Necessity
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Necessity
      • Necessity is located in Stephens County
    • Wayland
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Wayland. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wayland
      • Wayland is located in Stephens County
    • Breckenridge
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Breckenridge have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Breckenridge
      • Breckenridge is located in Stephens County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,400 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Breckenridge <2>
    • Gunsight ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gunsight
      • Gunsight is located in Stephens County
    • Eolian
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eolian
      • Eolian is located in Stephens County
  • Young County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Brad, with the one closest to Brad listed first.
    • Bunger
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bunger
      • Bunger is located in Young County
    • South Bend
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Eliasville
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eliasville
      • Eliasville is located in Young County
    • Graham
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Graham have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Graham
      • Graham is located in Young County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 8,568 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Graham <2>
    • Murray
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Murray
      • Murray is located in Young County

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

Cemeteries Near Brad ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Brad.

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

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

  • Caddo Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Caddo Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Caddo Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Bee Branch Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bee Branch Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bee Branch Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Lake Creek Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lake Creek Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lake Creek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • McAdams Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the McAdams Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the McAdams Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Veale Creek Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Veale Creek Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Veale Creek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Macedonia Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Macedonia Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Macedonia Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hutchins Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hutchins Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hutchins Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Guest Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Guest Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Guest Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Johnson Vault
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Johnson Vault
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Johnson Vault have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Swenson Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Swenson Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Swenson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Fox Mtn. Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fox Mtn. Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fox Mtn. Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Smith Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Smith Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Smith Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (103 more) ...
    • Mt. Marion Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Marion Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Marion Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Davidson Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Davidson Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Davidson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • McSpadden Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the McSpadden Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the McSpadden 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.<4>

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

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

  • Caddo
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Palo Pinto
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Palo Pinto have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palo Pinto
    • Palo Pinto is located in Palo Pinto County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Palo Pinto <2>
  • Strawn
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
  • La Casa ‑ Historic
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Casa
    • La Casa is located in Stephens County
  • Gordon
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Thurber
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
  • Tiffin
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tiffin have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tiffin
    • Tiffin is located in Eastland County
  • Santo
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Santo. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Santo
    • Santo is located in Palo Pinto County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Santo <2>
  • South Bend
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
  • Eliasville
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eliasville
    • Eliasville is located in Young County
  • Wayland
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Wayland. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wayland
    • Wayland is located in Stephens County
  • Ranger
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Ranger. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ranger
    • Ranger is located in Eastland County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,354 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ranger <2>
  • Continue List   (11 more) ...
    • Brazos
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brazos
      • Brazos is located in Palo Pinto County
    • Breckenridge
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Breckenridge have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Breckenridge
      • Breckenridge is located in Stephens County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,400 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Breckenridge <2>
    • Oran
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oran have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oran
      • Oran is located in Palo Pinto County

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

Newspapers Published in Brad ...

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 58 newspapers that have been published in the area around Brad.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Brad, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Brad.

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 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 Brad:

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

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>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 Brad, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<5>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Brad) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Brad. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.7518, Longitude: -98.5078       In this case, the coordinates for Brad have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025