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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 Elm Flat (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 Elm Flat. 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 Elm Flat ...

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 Elm Flat: Elm Flt.

You might be interested in other communities that are also named Elm Flat. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Elm Flat.

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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most 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.

Elm Flat is located in Navarro 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 Navarro County: Anderson, Ellis, Freestone, Henderson, Hill & Limestone.

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

  • Navarro County     (The home county of Elm Flat)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Elm Flat, with the one closest to Elm Flat listed first.
    • Powell
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Powell is located in Navarro County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Powell
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 149 people
    • Mildred
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Mildred is located in Navarro County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mildred
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 400 people
    • Eureka
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Goodlow
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Kerens
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Bazette
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Roane
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Navarro
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Navarro is located in Navarro County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Navarro
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 217 people
    • Mustang
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Mustang is located in Navarro County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mustang
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 23 people
    • Angus
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Corsicana
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Retreat
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Retreat is located in Navarro County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Retreat
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 384 people
  • Anderson County
  • Ellis County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Elm Flat, with the one closest to Elm Flat listed first.
    • Alma
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Alma is located in Ellis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alma
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 400 people
    • Telico
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Ennis
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Bardwell
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Crisp
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Garrett
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Garrett is located in Ellis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garrett
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 891 people
    • Avalon
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Bristol
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Howard
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Freestone County
  • Henderson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Elm Flat, with the one closest to Elm Flat listed first.
    • Trinidad
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Tool
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Tool is located in Henderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tool
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,335 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Tool <1>
    • Enchanted Oaks
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Enchanted Oaks is located in Henderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Enchanted Oaks
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 343 people
    • Star Harbor
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Star Harbor is located in Henderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Star Harbor
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 487 people
    • Malakoff
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Seven Points
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Caney City
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Caney City is located in Henderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Caney City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 223 people
    • Payne Springs
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Payne Springs is located in Henderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Payne Springs
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 756 people
    • Log Cabin
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • Log Cabin is located in Henderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Log Cabin
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 785 people
    • Cross Roads
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Gun Barrel City
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Eustace
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Kaufman County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Elm Flat, with the one closest to Elm Flat listed first.
    • Styx
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Tolosa
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Stubbs
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Mabank
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Kemp
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Cottonwood
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Cottonwood is located in Kaufman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottonwood
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 209 people
    • Grays Prairie
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Grays Prairie is located in Kaufman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grays Prairie
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 388 people
    • Rosser
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Becker
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Prairieville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Oak Grove
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Oak Grove is located in Kaufman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 704 people
    • Scurry
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
  • Limestone County

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

Cemeteries Near Elm Flat ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Elm Flat.

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 Elm Flat - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

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

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

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

Newspapers Published in Elm Flat ...

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 70 newspapers that have been published in the area around Elm Flat.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Elm Flat, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Elm Flat.

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 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 Elm Flat:

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>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- Elm Flat) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Elm Flat, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.