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 Dothan (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 Dothan. 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 hospitals and doctors 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.
Dothan is located in Eastland 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 Eastland County: Brown, Callahan, Comanche, Erath, Palo Pinto, Shackelford & Stephens.
Below are the counties that are near Dothan. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Dothan:
- Eastland County (The home county of Dothan)
- The following are listed by their distance from Dothan, with the one closest to Dothan listed first.
- Cisco
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
- Nimrod ‑ Historic
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- Nimrod is located in Eastland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nimrod
- Eastland
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
- Mangum ‑ Historic
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
- Mangum is located in Eastland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mangum
- Olden
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
- Ranger
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
- Carbon
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
- Kokomo
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
- Kokomo is located in Eastland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kokomo
- Callahan County
- The following are listed by their distance from Dothan, with the one closest to Dothan listed first.
- Putnam
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
- Baird
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
- Belle Plain ‑ Historic
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
- Belle Plain is located in Callahan County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belle Plain
- Cottonwood
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
- Cottonwood is located in Callahan County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottonwood
- Clyde
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
- Rowden
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
- Rowden is located in Callahan County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rowden
- Cross Plains
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
- Eula
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
- Eula is located in Callahan County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eula
- Shackelford County
- The following are listed by their distance from Dothan, with the one closest to Dothan listed first.
- Moran
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Albany
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
- Fort Griffin
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
- Fort Griffin is located in Shackelford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Griffin
- Stephens County
- The following are listed by their distance from Dothan, with the one closest to Dothan listed first.
- Eureka
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
- Eureka is located in Stephens County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eureka
- Eolian
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
- Eolian is located in Stephens County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eolian
- Gunsight ‑ Historic
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
- Gunsight is located in Stephens County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gunsight
- Wayland
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
- Wayland is located in Stephens County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wayland
- Breckenridge
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
- Necessity
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
- Necessity is located in Stephens County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Necessity
- La Casa ‑ Historic
(23 miles [37 km] to the east)
- La Casa is located in Stephens County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Casa
- Caddo
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Dothan, see our County-by-County Page for Dothan.
Cemeteries Near Dothan ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Dothan.
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 Dothan - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Dothan covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Dothan, with the one closest to Dothan listed first.
- Cauble Family Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
- Moran Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
- Johnson Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Battle Creek Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Shady Grove Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- Parrish Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
- Greer Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
- Buck Mtn. Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
- Plum Branch Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
- Hart Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
- Lynch Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
- Harpersville Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- Continue List (60 more) ...
- Dothan Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
- Oakwood Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
- Reagan Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 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.<3>
While we didn't find Dothan in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Dothan.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Dothan, with the one closest to Dothan listed first.
- Eolian
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
- Eolian is located in Stephens County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eolian
- Cisco
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
- Gunsight ‑ Historic
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
- Gunsight is located in Stephens County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gunsight
- Putnam
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
- Wayland
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
- Wayland is located in Stephens County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wayland
- Albany
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
- Scranton
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
- Scranton is located in Eastland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scranton
- Breckenridge
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
- Nimrod ‑ Historic
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- Nimrod is located in Eastland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nimrod
- Eastland
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
- Baird
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
- Belle Plain ‑ Historic
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
- Belle Plain is located in Callahan County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belle Plain
- Continue List (10 more) ...
- Olden
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
- Romney
(23 miles [37 km] to the south)
- Romney is located in Eastland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Romney
- La Casa ‑ Historic
(23 miles [37 km] to the east)
- La Casa is located in Stephens County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Casa
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Dothan. See our List of 1890's Communities around Dothan.
Newspapers Published in Dothan ...
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 55 newspapers that have been published in the area around Dothan.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Dothan, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Dothan.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with 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 Dothan:
- Websites specific to Texas
- Pages specific to Eastland County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Callahan County
- Shackelford County
- Stephens County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Texas
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> | 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. |
| <3> | 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 Dothan, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Dothan) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |