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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 Dunlay (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 Dunlay. 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 northwest 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 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 west 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.

Dunlay is located in Medina 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 Medina County: Atascosa, Bandera, Bexar, Frio, Uvalde & Zavala.

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

  • Medina County     (The home county of Dunlay)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dunlay, with the one closest to Dunlay listed first.
    • Quihi
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Quihi is also located in Medina County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quihi
    • New Fountain
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
      • New Fountain is also located in Medina County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Fountain
    • Castroville
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Rio Medina
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Pearson
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Pearson is also located in Medina County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pearson
    • Hondo
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Hondo is also located in Medina County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hondo
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,492 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hondo <1>
    • LaCoste
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • LaCoste is also located in Medina County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for LaCoste
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,263 people
      • LaCoste has also been known as:
      • La Coste
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for LaCoste <1>
    • Natalia
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Natalia is also located in Medina County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Natalia
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,622 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Natalia <1>
    • Mico
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Devine
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Devine is also located in Medina County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Devine
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,938 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Devine <1>
    • Yancey
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • D'Hanis
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
  • Atascosa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dunlay, with the one closest to Dunlay listed first.
    • Lytle
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Lytle is located in Atascosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lytle
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,061 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lytle <1>
    • Anchorage
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Anchorage is located in Atascosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Anchorage
    • Iuka
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Iuka is located in Atascosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iuka
    • Kyote
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Kyote is located in Atascosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kyote
    • Rossville
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Rossville is located in Atascosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rossville
  • Bandera County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dunlay, with the one closest to Dunlay listed first.
    • Bandera Falls
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Bandera Falls is located in Bandera County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bandera Falls
    • Bandera
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Lakehills
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Pipe Creek
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Tarpley
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Bexar County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dunlay, with the one closest to Dunlay listed first.
    • Atascosa
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Macdona
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Lackland City
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Lackland City is located in Bexar County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lackland City
    • Lackland Heights
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Von Ormy
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Bexar
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Bexar is located in Bexar County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bexar
    • Somerset
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Westwood Village
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Westwood Village is located in Bexar County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westwood Village
    • Helotes
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Leon Valley
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Grey Forest
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Grey Forest is located in Bexar County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grey Forest
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 575 people
    • Balcones Heights
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
  • Frio County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dunlay, with the one closest to Dunlay listed first.
    • Moore
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Bigfoot
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Frio Town ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Frio Town was located in Frio County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frio Town
    • North Pearsall
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • North Pearsall is located in Frio County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Pearsall
  • Uvalde County
    • Sabinal
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)

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

Cemeteries Near Dunlay ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Dunlay.

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

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

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

  • Schweers Family Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Quihi Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • St. Johns Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • St. Louis Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Zion Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Decker Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Britsch Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Cottonwood Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Oakwood Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Ingleside Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Mussman Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Roberson Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (79 more) ...

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

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

  • New Fountain
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • New Fountain is also located in Medina County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Fountain
  • Castroville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Noonan
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Noonan is also located in Medina County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Noonan
  • Hondo
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Hondo is also located in Medina County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hondo
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,492 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hondo <1>
  • Devine
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Devine is also located in Medina County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Devine
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,938 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Devine <1>
  • Lytle
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Lytle is located in Atascosa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lytle
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,061 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lytle <1>
  • Atascosa
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
  • D'Hanis
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
  • Macdona
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
  • Moore
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
  • Bexar
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Bexar is located in Bexar County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bexar
  • Von Ormy
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (7 more) ...
    • Bigfoot
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Withers
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Withers is located in Bexar County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Withers
    • Anchorage
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Anchorage is located in Atascosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Anchorage

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

Newspapers Published in Dunlay ...

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 196 newspapers that have been published in the area around Dunlay.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Dunlay, 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 Dunlay.

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 professional and volunteer 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 Dunlay:

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 Dunlay, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Dunlay) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.