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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 Fort Sam Houston (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 Fort Sam Houston. 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 Fort Sam Houston ...

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.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might have occurred.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Fort Sam Houston: Ft. Sam Houston

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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals 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.

Fort Sam Houston is located in Bexar County.

To see how the shape of Texas' counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Bexar County: Atascosa, Bandera, Comal, Guadalupe, Kendall, Medina & Wilson.

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

  • Bexar County     (The home county of Fort Sam Houston)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fort Sam Houston, with the one closest to Fort Sam Houston listed first.
    • Terrell Hills
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Terrell Hills have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Terrell Hills
      • Terrell Hills is located in Bexar County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,451 people
    • Kirby
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kirby have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kirby
      • Kirby is located in Bexar County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 8,719 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Kirby <2>
    • Alamo Heights
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alamo Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alamo Heights
      • Alamo Heights is located in Bexar County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 8,668 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Alamo Heights <2>
    • Fratt ‑ Historic
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fratt have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fratt
      • Fratt is located in Bexar County
    • Olmos Park
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Olmos Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Olmos Park
      • Olmos Park is located in Bexar County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,461 people
    • Windcrest
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Windcrest have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Windcrest
      • Windcrest is located in Bexar County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,854 people
    • San Antonio
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Wetmore
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Castle Hills
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Castle Hills have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Castle Hills
      • Castle Hills is located in Bexar County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,448 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Castle Hills <2>
    • Converse
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Converse have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Converse
      • Converse is located in Bexar County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 28,814 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Converse <2>
    • China Grove
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for China Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for China Grove
      • China Grove is located in Bexar County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,314 people
    • Balcones Heights
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Atascosa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fort Sam Houston, with the one closest to Fort Sam Houston listed first.
    • Espey
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Espey. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Espey
      • Espey is located in Atascosa County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Espey
      • From Fort Sam Houston to Espey
    • Lytle
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lytle have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lytle
      • Lytle is located in Atascosa County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,061 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lytle <2>
    • Leming
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Leming have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leming
      • Leming is located in Atascosa County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Leming <2>
    • Verdi
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Rossville
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Comal County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fort Sam Houston, with the one closest to Fort Sam Houston listed first.
    • Bracken
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Garden Ridge
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Ogden
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Ogden. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ogden
      • Ogden is located in Comal County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Ogden
      • From Fort Sam Houston to Ogden
    • Comal
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Comal have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Comal
      • Comal is located in Comal County
    • Corbyn
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Corbyn. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Corbyn
      • Corbyn is located in Comal County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Corbyn
      • From Fort Sam Houston to Corbyn
    • Bulverde East ‑ Historic
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bulverde East have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bulverde East
      • Bulverde East is located in Comal County
    • Bulverde South ‑ Historic
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bulverde South have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bulverde South
      • Bulverde South is located in Comal County
    • Bulverde
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Dittlinger
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Solms
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Solms have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Solms
      • Solms is located in Comal County
    • Anhalt
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Anhalt. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Anhalt
      • Anhalt is located in Comal County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Anhalt
      • From Fort Sam Houston to Anhalt
    • Bulverde West ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bulverde West have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bulverde West
      • Bulverde West is located in Comal County
  • Guadalupe County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fort Sam Houston, with the one closest to Fort Sam Houston listed first.
    • Haeckerville
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Haeckerville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haeckerville
      • Haeckerville is located in Guadalupe County
    • Zuehl
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Northcliff
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Northcliff have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Northcliff
      • Northcliff is located in Guadalupe County
    • Santa Clara
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Santa Clara have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Santa Clara
      • Santa Clara is located in Guadalupe County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 745 people
    • Marion
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Marion have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marion
      • Marion is located in Guadalupe County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,281 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Marion <2>
    • New Berlin
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Hilda Siding
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Muehlsville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Muehlsville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muehlsville
      • Muehlsville is located in Guadalupe County
    • Olmos ‑ Historic
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Sweet Home
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sweet Home have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweet Home
      • Sweet Home is located in Guadalupe County
    • Nolte
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nolte have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nolte
      • Nolte is located in Guadalupe County
    • Schumannsville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Schumannsville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Schumannsville
      • Schumannsville is located in Guadalupe County
  • Kendall County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fort Sam Houston, with the one closest to Fort Sam Houston listed first.
    • Bergheim
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bergheim have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bergheim
      • Bergheim is located in Kendall County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bergheim <2>
    • Boerne
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Kreutzberg
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Medina County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fort Sam Houston, with the one closest to Fort Sam Houston listed first.
    • LaCoste
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for LaCoste have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for LaCoste
      • LaCoste is located in Medina County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,263 people
      • LaCoste has also been known as:
      • La Coste
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for LaCoste <2>
    • Castroville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Castroville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Castroville
      • Castroville is located in Medina County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,199 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Castroville <2>
    • Rio Medina
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Mico
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mico have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mico
      • Mico is located in Medina County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mico <2>
    • Pearson
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Wilson County

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

Cemeteries Near Fort Sam Houston ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Fort Sam Houston.

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.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Fort Sam Houston, with the one closest to Fort Sam Houston 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.<5>

While we didn't find Fort Sam Houston in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Fort Sam Houston.

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

  • Kirby
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kirby have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kirby
    • Kirby is located in Bexar County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 8,719 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Kirby <2>
  • San Antonio
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Wetmore
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Converse
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Converse have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Converse
    • Converse is located in Bexar County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 28,814 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Converse <2>
  • Robards
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Robards have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Robards
    • Robards is located in Bexar County
  • Bergs Mill
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bergs Mill have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bergs Mill
    • Bergs Mill is located in Bexar County
  • Selma
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Sayers
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Sayers. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sayers
    • Sayers is located in Bexar County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Sayers
    • From Fort Sam Houston to Sayers
  • Bracken
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Withers
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Withers have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Withers
    • Withers is located in Bexar County
  • Cibolo
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Saint Hedwig
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint Hedwig have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Hedwig
    • Saint Hedwig is located in Bexar County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,529 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Saint Hedwig <2>
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Earle
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Earle have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Earle
      • Earle is located in Bexar County
    • Elmendorf
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Corbyn
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Corbyn. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Corbyn
      • Corbyn is located in Comal County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Corbyn
      • From Fort Sam Houston to Corbyn

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

Newspapers Published in Fort Sam Houston ...

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 260 newspapers that have been published in the area around Fort Sam Houston.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Fort Sam Houston, there are papers which were published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Fort Sam Houston.

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 Fort Sam Houston:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Fort Sam Houston. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Bexar County: www.co.bexar.tx.us/

The official website for State of Texas: https://texas.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<4>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.
<5>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 Fort Sam Houston, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Fort Sam Houston) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Fort Sam Houston. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 29.4784, Longitude: -98.4306    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025