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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 Centerville (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 Centerville. 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.

Name Variations for Centerville ...

When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might have occurred.

Another variation: Centreville.

If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.

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 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.

Centerville is located in Leon 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 Leon County: Anderson, Freestone, Houston, Limestone, Madison & Robertson.

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

  • Leon County     (The home county of Centerville)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Centerville, with the one closest to Centerville listed first.
    • Leona
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Leona have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leona
      • Leona is located in Leon County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 179 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Leona <2>
    • Middleton
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Middleton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Middleton
      • Middleton is located in Leon County
    • Concord
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Centerview
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centerview
      • Centerview is located in Leon County
    • Russell
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Russell
      • Russell is located in Leon County
    • Flynn
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Flynn have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flynn
      • Flynn is located in Leon County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Flynn <2>
    • Jewett
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Newby
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newby
      • Newby is located in Leon County
    • Buffalo
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Marquez
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Normangee
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Normangee have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Normangee
      • Normangee is located in Leon County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 710 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Normangee <2>
    • Hilltop Lakes
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
  • Anderson County
    • Long Lake
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Long Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Lake
      • Long Lake is located in Anderson County
  • Freestone County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Centerville, with the one closest to Centerville listed first.
    • Donie
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Oakwood
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oakwood have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakwood
      • Oakwood is located in Freestone County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 514 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Oakwood <2>
    • Lanely
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lanely have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lanely
      • Lanely is located in Freestone County
    • Dew
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dew
      • Dew is located in Freestone County
    • Freestone
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freestone
      • Freestone is located in Freestone County
    • Red Lake
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Lake
      • Red Lake is located in Freestone County
    • Turlington
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turlington
      • Turlington is located in Freestone County
  • Houston County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Centerville, with the one closest to Centerville listed first.
    • Austonio
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Austonio
      • Austonio is located in Houston County
    • Halls Bluff Town ‑ Historic
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Halls Bluff Town have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halls Bluff Town
      • Halls Bluff Town is located in Houston County
    • Porter Springs
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Porter Springs
      • Porter Springs is located in Houston County
    • Cooper
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cooper have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cooper
      • Cooper is located in Houston County
  • Limestone County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Centerville, with the one closest to Centerville listed first.
    • Farrar
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farrar
      • Farrar is located in Limestone County
    • Personville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Personville
      • Personville is located in Limestone County
    • Lost Prairie
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lost Prairie
      • Lost Prairie is located in Limestone County
  • Madison County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Centerville, with the one closest to Centerville listed first.
    • Midway
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • George
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for George
      • George is located in Madison County
    • Madisonville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • North Zulch
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Zulch ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Zulch came from an uncertain source and they still need to be verified:<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zulch
      • Zulch is located in Madison County
  • Robertson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Centerville, with the one closest to Centerville listed first.
    • Ridge
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ridge
      • Ridge is located in Robertson County
    • Seale
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Seale have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seale
      • Seale is located in Robertson County
    • New Baden
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Centerville ...

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 18 newspapers that have been published in the area around Centerville.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Centerville. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Centerville and those printed in the larger area surrounding Centerville.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 21 miles [33.8 km]<4> of Centerville.

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 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 Centerville:

Cemeteries Near Centerville ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Centerville.

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

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

  • Curtiss Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Curtiss Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Curtiss Cemetery
  • Seale Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Seale Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Seale Cemetery
  • Liberty Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Liberty Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Liberty Cemetery
  • Spring Creek Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Spring Creek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Spring Creek Cemetery
  • Culton Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Culton Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Culton Cemetery
  • Woodward Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Woodward Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Woodward Cemetery
  • Makamsom Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Makamsom Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Makamsom Cemetery
  • Durst Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Durst Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Durst Cemetery
  • Rogers Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rogers Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rogers Cemetery
  • Thomason Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Thomason Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Thomason Cemetery
  • Beaver Dam Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Beaver Dam Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Beaver Dam Cemetery
  • Old Union Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old Union Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old Union Cemetery
  • Continue List   (157 more) ...
    • Brushy Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Brushy Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Brushy Cemetery
    • Concord Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Turner Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 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.<6>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Centerville had a population of 288 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Centerville had a population of 906 people.

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

  • Leona
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Leona have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leona
    • Leona is located in Leon County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 179 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Leona <2>
  • Middleton
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Middleton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Middleton
    • Middleton is located in Leon County
  • Guys Store
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Guys Store have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Guys Store
    • Guys Store is located in Leon County
  • Concord
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Russell
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Russell
    • Russell is located in Leon County
  • Jewett
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Buffalo
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
  • Marquez
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
  • Ash
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ash have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ash
    • Ash is located in Houston County
  • Keechi
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Keechi have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keechi
    • Keechi is located in Leon County
  • Midway
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Madisonville
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Porter Springs
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Porter Springs
      • Porter Springs is located in Houston County
    • Connor
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Connor have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Connor
      • Connor is located in Madison County
    • Farrar
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farrar
      • Farrar is located in Limestone County

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

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Centerville. 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>If we found a location and have questions about the accuracy of our information, we will simply say that the marker is 'in the vicinity'. We are not confident about the location and the position of our marker is only a rough guide. If we have too many doubts about the location, we will not include it in our database.
<4>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- Centerville) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Centerville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.2580, Longitude: -95.9787    
<5>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.
<6>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 Centerville, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024