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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 Chaffin Crossing (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 Chaffin Crossing. 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 Chaffin Crossing ...

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.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Chaffin Crossing: Chaffin Xing.

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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors 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.

Chaffin Crossing is located in Coleman 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 Coleman County: Brown, Callahan, Concho, McCulloch, Runnels & Taylor.

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

  • Coleman County     (The home county of Chaffin Crossing)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Chaffin Crossing, with the one closest to Chaffin Crossing listed first.
    • Rockwood
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Whon ‑ Historic
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Whon is located in Coleman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whon
    • Gouldbusk
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Trickham
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Trickham is located in Coleman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trickham
      • Former name for Trickham:
      • Trick'em
    • Voss
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Santa Anna
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Valera
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Coleman
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Talpa
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Brown County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Chaffin Crossing, with the one closest to Chaffin Crossing listed first.
    • Brookesmith
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Keys Crossing
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Keys Crossing is located in Brown County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keys Crossing
    • Bangs
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Indian Creek
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Indian Creek is located in Brown County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Creek
    • Fry ‑ Historic
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Fry is located in Brown County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fry
    • Brownwood
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Concho County
  • McCulloch County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Chaffin Crossing, with the one closest to Chaffin Crossing listed first.
    • Waldrip
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Waldrip is located in McCulloch County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waldrip
    • Lohn
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Pear Valley
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Doole ‑ Historic
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • Doole is located in McCulloch County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Doole
    • Salt Gap ‑ Historic
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Salt Gap is located in McCulloch County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salt Gap
    • Milburn
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Milburn is located in McCulloch County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milburn
    • Rochelle
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Melvin
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Brady
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Brady is located in McCulloch County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brady
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,178 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Brady <1>
  • Mills County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Chaffin Crossing, with the one closest to Chaffin Crossing listed first.
    • Buffalo
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Buffalo is located in Mills County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buffalo
    • Ebony ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Ebony is located in Mills County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ebony
  • San Saba County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Chaffin Crossing, with the one closest to Chaffin Crossing listed first.
    • Holt ‑ Historic
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Holt is located in San Saba County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holt
    • Richland Springs
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Locker ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Locker is located in San Saba County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locker

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

Cemeteries Near Chaffin Crossing ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Chaffin Crossing.

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 Chaffin Crossing - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Chaffin Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Fife Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Marion Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Whon Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Stewardson Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Lohn Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Five Ashes Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Hill Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Rice Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rice Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Rice Cemetery is located 4 miles [6.4 km]<2> to the west of Brookesmith.
  • Brown Ranch Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
  • Voss Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Cox Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (41 more) ...
    • Winchell Cemetery
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Beasley Cemetery
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Smith Cemetery
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)

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 Chaffin Crossing in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Chaffin Crossing.

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

  • Waldrip
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Waldrip is located in McCulloch County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waldrip
  • Rockwood
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Trickham
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Trickham is located in Coleman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trickham
    • Former name for Trickham:
    • Trick'em
  • Milburn
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Milburn is located in McCulloch County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milburn
  • Rochelle
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
  • Santa Anna
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
  • Brady
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Brady is located in McCulloch County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brady
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,178 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Brady <1>
  • Valera
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Bangs
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
  • Indian Creek
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Indian Creek is located in Brown County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Creek
  • Coleman
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
  • Talpa
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Richland Springs
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Thrifty
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Thrifty is located in Brown County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thrifty

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

Newspapers Published in Chaffin Crossing ...

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 14 newspapers that have been published in the area around Chaffin Crossing.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Chaffin Crossing, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Chaffin Crossing.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 Chaffin Crossing:

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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Chaffin Crossing) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<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 Chaffin Crossing, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.