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 El Caney (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 El Caney. 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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals 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.
El Caney is located in Houston 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 Houston County: Anderson, Angelina, Cherokee, Leon, Madison, Trinity & Walker.
Below are the counties that are near El Caney. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to El Caney:
- Houston County (The home county of El Caney)
- The following are listed by their distance from El Caney, with the one closest to El Caney listed first.
- Grapeland
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
- Latexo
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
- Refuge
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- Refuge is located in Houston County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Refuge
- Crockett
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
- Belott
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
- Belott is located in Houston County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belott
- Hickory Creek
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
- Hickory Creek is located in Houston County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Creek
- Halls Bluff Town ‑ Historic
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
- Halls Bluff Town is located in Houston County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halls Bluff Town
- Porter Springs
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
- Porter Springs is located in Houston County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Porter Springs
- Cooper
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Cooper is located in Houston County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cooper
- Harrison Town
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
- Harrison Town is located in Houston County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harrison Town
- Weches
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
- Weches is located in Houston County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weches
- Kennard
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
- Austonio
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
- Austonio is located in Houston County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Austonio
- Anderson County
- The following are listed by their distance from El Caney, with the one closest to El Caney listed first.
- Salmon
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
- Salmon is located in Anderson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salmon
- Mound City
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- Mound City is located in Anderson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mound City
- Elkhart
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
- Slocum
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
- Slocum is located in Anderson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Slocum
- Alderbranch
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
- Alderbranch is located in Anderson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alderbranch
- Cronin
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
- Cronin is located in Anderson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cronin
- Lakeview Assembly
(18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
- Lakeview Assembly is located in Anderson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview Assembly
- Crystal Lake
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
- Crystal Lake is located in Anderson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crystal Lake
- Deanwright
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
- Deanwright is located in Anderson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deanwright
- Kossuth
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
- Kossuth is located in Anderson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kossuth
- Jarvis
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
- Jarvis is located in Anderson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jarvis
- Tucker
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Tucker is located in Anderson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tucker
- Herring
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
- Herring is located in Anderson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Herring
- Cherokee County
- The following are listed by their distance from El Caney, with the one closest to El Caney listed first.
- Weeping Mary
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
- Weeping Mary is located in Cherokee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weeping Mary
- Maydelle
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
- Alto
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
- Forest
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
- Forest is located in Cherokee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest
- Freestone County
- The following are listed by their distance from El Caney, with the one closest to El Caney listed first.
- Oakwood
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
- Butler
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
- Butler is located in Freestone County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Butler
- Leon County
- The following are listed by their distance from El Caney, with the one closest to El Caney listed first.
- Russell
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
- Russell is located in Leon County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Russell
- Centerview
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
- Centerview is located in Leon County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centerview
- Middleton
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
- Middleton is located in Leon County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Middleton
- Centerville
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
- Trinity County
- The following are listed by their distance from El Caney, with the one closest to El Caney listed first.
- Pennington
(23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
- Center Point ‑ Historic
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
- Center Point is located in Trinity County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Center Point
- Friday
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
- Friday is located in Trinity County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friday
- Centralia
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to El Caney, see our County-by-County Page for El Caney.
Cemeteries Near El Caney ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of El Caney.
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 El Caney - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for El Caney covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from El Caney, with the one closest to El Caney listed first.
- New Salem Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
- Milligan Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
- Golden Gate Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
- Hayes Spring Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hayes Spring Cemetery
- The Hayes Spring Cemetery has also been known as:
- Haynes Spring Cemetery
- Hays Spring Cemetery
- Latexo Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Latexo Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Latexo Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the southwest of Latexo.
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #4760 <2>
- Davidson Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
- Murdock Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
- Denson Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- Ferrell Women Graves
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- McCann Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Parker Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
- Wesley Chapel Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Continue List (245 more) ...
- Wesley Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Box Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Wall Cemetery
(5 miles [8 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 El Caney in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of El Caney.
These communities are listed based on their distance from El Caney, with the one closest to El Caney listed first.
- Grapeland
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
- San Pedro
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- San Pedro is located in Houston County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Pedro
- Crockett
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
- Belott
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
- Belott is located in Houston County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belott
- Augusta
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
- Augusta is located in Houston County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Augusta
- Porter Springs
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
- Porter Springs is located in Houston County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Porter Springs
- Elkhart
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
- Cronin
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
- Cronin is located in Anderson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cronin
- Weches
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
- Weches is located in Houston County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weches
- Alderbranch
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
- Alderbranch is located in Anderson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alderbranch
- Tadmor
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
- Tadmor is located in Houston County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tadmor
- Ash
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
- Ash is located in Houston County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ash
- Continue List (13 more) ...
- Russell
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
- Russell is located in Leon County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Russell
- Lovelady
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
- Ratcliff
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around El Caney. See our List of 1890's Communities around El Caney.
Newspapers Published in El Caney ...
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 42 newspapers that have been published in the area around El Caney.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of El Caney, 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 El Caney.
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 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 El Caney:
- Websites specific to Texas
- Pages specific to Houston County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Anderson County
- Cherokee County
- Freestone County
- Leon County
- Trinity 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 El Caney, 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- El Caney) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |