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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 southeast 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 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.

Brad is located in Palo Pinto 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 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)
    • Strawn
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Mingus
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Gordon
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Graford
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Santo
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Brazos
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Brazos is located in Palo Pinto County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brazos
    • Mineral Wells
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Wolters Village
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Wolters Village is located in Palo Pinto County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wolters Village
    • Salesville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Salesville is located in Palo Pinto County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salesville
  • 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)
    • 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)
      • Hannibal is located in Erath County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hannibal
  • 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)
    • Bob Town
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Bob Town is located in Jack County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bob Town
  • 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)
      • Cool is located in Parker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cool
      • 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)
      • La Casa is located in Stephens County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Casa
    • Necessity
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Necessity is located in Stephens County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Necessity
    • Wayland
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Wayland is located in Stephens County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wayland
    • Breckenridge
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Gunsight ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Gunsight is located in Stephens County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gunsight
    • Eolian
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Eolian is located in Stephens County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eolian
  • 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)
      • Bunger is located in Young County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bunger
    • South Bend
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Eliasville
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Eliasville is located in Young County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eliasville
    • Graham
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Murray
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Murray is located in Young County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Murray

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.

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 Brad - one of the links might be able to help.

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)
  • Bee Branch Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Lake Creek Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • McAdams Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
  • Veale Creek Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Macedonia Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Hutchins Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
  • Guest Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
  • Johnson Vault
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Swenson Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Fox Mtn. Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Smith Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (103 more) ...
    • Mt. Marion Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Davidson Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • McSpadden Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)

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 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)
  • Strawn
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
  • La Casa ‑ Historic
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • La Casa is located in Stephens County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Casa
  • 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)
    • Tiffin is located in Eastland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tiffin
  • Santo
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
  • South Bend
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
  • Eliasville
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Eliasville is located in Young County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eliasville
  • Wayland
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Wayland is located in Stephens County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wayland
  • Ranger
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (11 more) ...
    • Breckenridge
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Brazos
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Brazos is located in Palo Pinto County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brazos
    • Oran
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Oran is located in Palo Pinto County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oran

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]<3>. 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 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 Brad:

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 Brad, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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 from Point A (ie- Brad) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.