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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 Brenham (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 Brenham. 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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.

Brenham is located in Washington County and is the County Seat.

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 Washington County: Austin, Brazos, Burleson, Fayette, Grimes & Lee.

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

  • Washington County     (The home county of Brenham)
  • Austin County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Brenham, with the one closest to Brenham listed first.
    • New Wehdem
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for New Wehdem. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Wehdem
      • New Wehdem is located in Austin County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to New Wehdem
      • From Brenham to New Wehdem
    • Kenney
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kenney have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kenney
      • Kenney is located in Austin County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Kenney <2>
    • Sempronius ‑ Historic
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sempronius have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sempronius
      • Sempronius is located in Austin County
    • Bleiblerville
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bleiblerville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bleiblerville
      • Bleiblerville is located in Austin County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bleiblerville <2>
    • Buckhorn
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Industry
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Industry have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Industry
      • Industry is located in Austin County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 326 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Industry <2>
    • Shelby
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Shelby. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shelby
      • Shelby is located in Austin County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Shelby
      • From Brenham to Shelby
    • Bellville
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • New Ulm
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Cat Spring
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cat Spring have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cat Spring
      • Cat Spring is located in Austin County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cat Spring <2>
    • Millheim
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Millheim. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millheim
      • Millheim is located in Austin County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Millheim
      • From Brenham to Millheim
    • Sealy
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Brazos County
  • Burleson County
  • Colorado County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Brenham, with the one closest to Brenham listed first.
    • Pisek ‑ Historic
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pisek have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pisek
      • Pisek is located in Colorado County
    • Frelsburg
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Fayette County
  • Harris County
  • Lee County
  • Waller County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Brenham, with the one closest to Brenham listed first.
    • Saint Paul
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint Paul have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Paul
      • Saint Paul is located in Waller County
    • Hempstead
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Pine Island
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pine Island have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Island
      • Pine Island is located in Waller County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,205 people
    • Prairie View
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Prairie View have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie View
      • Prairie View is located in Waller County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 7,013 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Prairie View <2>
    • Fields Store
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)

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

Cemeteries Near Brenham ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Brenham.

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

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

  • Camptown Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Camptown Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Camptown Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Willow Grove Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Willow Grove Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Willow Grove Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Brenham Masonic Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • Calvary Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Calvary Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Calvary Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • HIC Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the HIC Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the HIC Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Prairie Lea Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Walker Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Walker Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Walker Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Weiss Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Weiss Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Weiss Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Walker Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Walker Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Walker Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Clear Spring Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Clear Spring Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Clear Spring Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Lehmann Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lehmann Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lehmann Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Salem Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Salem Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Salem Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (244 more) ...
    • Pleasant Grove Cemetery
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pleasant Grove Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pleasant Grove Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Struckmeyer Cemetery
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Struckmeyer Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Struckmeyer Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Roberts Cemetery
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Roberts Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Roberts 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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Brenham had a population of 5,209 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Brenham had a population of 17,736 people.

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

  • Phillipsburg
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Phillipsburg have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Phillipsburg
    • Phillipsburg is located in Washington County
  • Mill Creek
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mill Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mill Creek
    • Mill Creek is located in Washington County
  • Wesley
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Kenney
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kenney have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kenney
    • Kenney is located in Austin County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Kenney <2>
  • Sempronius ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sempronius have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sempronius
    • Sempronius is located in Austin County
  • Gay Hill
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Greenvine
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Greenvine. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenvine
    • Greenvine is located in Washington County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Greenvine
    • From Brenham to Greenvine
  • Whitman
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Whitman. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whitman
    • Whitman is located in Washington County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Whitman
    • From Brenham to Whitman
  • Independence
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Latium
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Latium have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Latium
    • Latium is located in Washington County
  • Welcome
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Welcome have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Welcome
    • Welcome is located in Austin County
  • Quarry
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (17 more) ...
    • Burton
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • William Penn ‑ Historic
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for William Penn have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for William Penn
      • William Penn is located in Washington County
    • Nelsonville
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nelsonville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nelsonville
      • Nelsonville is located in Austin County

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Brenham ...

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 83 newspapers that have been published in the area around Brenham.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Brenham. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Brenham and those printed in the larger area surrounding Brenham.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<5> of Brenham.

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 Brenham:

The official website for Brenham: www.ci.brenham.tx.us/

The official website for Washington County: www.co.washington.tx.us/

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 Brenham, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<5>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- Brenham) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Brenham. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.1671, Longitude: -96.3962    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025