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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 Francitas (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 Francitas. 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.

Francitas is located in Jackson 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 Jackson County: Calhoun, Lavaca, Matagorda, Victoria & Wharton.

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

  • Jackson County     (The home county of Francitas)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Francitas, with the one closest to Francitas listed first.
    • La Ward
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Weedhaven
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Weedhaven is located in Jackson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weedhaven
    • Lolita
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Ganado
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Vanderbilt
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Edna
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Edna is located in Jackson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edna
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,755 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Edna <1>
    • La Salle
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Matilda
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Matilda is located in Jackson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Matilda
  • Calhoun County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Francitas, with the one closest to Francitas listed first.
    • Port Alto
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Port Alto is located in Calhoun County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Port Alto
    • Point Comfort
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Port Lavaca
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Indianola
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Indianola is located in Calhoun County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indianola
    • Port O'Connor
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Kamey
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Kamey is located in Calhoun County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kamey
  • Matagorda County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Francitas, with the one closest to Francitas listed first.
    • Blessing
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Midfield
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Elmaton
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Palacios
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Collegeport
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Markham
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Elliott ‑ Historic
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Elliott is located in Matagorda County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elliott
      • Elliott has also been known as:
      • Elliott's
    • Bay City
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Wadsworth
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Matagorda
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Chalmers
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Chalmers is located in Matagorda County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chalmers
    • Gulf ‑ Historic
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Gulf is located in Matagorda County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gulf
    • McCroskey
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • McCroskey is located in Matagorda County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McCroskey
  • Victoria County
  • Wharton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Francitas, with the one closest to Francitas listed first.
    • Danevang
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Louise
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Hillje
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Hillje is located in Wharton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillje
    • El Campo
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Pierce
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Hahn
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Hahn is located in Wharton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hahn
    • Mackay
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Mackay is located in Wharton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mackay
    • Lane City
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Francitas ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Francitas.

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

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

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

  • Francitas Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
  • Deutschburg Community Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Blessing Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Lacy Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Hawley Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Grimes Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • Partain Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • Cornelius Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Palacios Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Ashby Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
  • Collegeport Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Brackenridge Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (55 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 Francitas in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Francitas.

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

  • Ashby
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Ashby is located in Matagorda County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ashby
  • Ganado
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Louise
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
  • Edna
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Edna is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edna
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,755 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Edna <1>
  • Elliott ‑ Historic
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Elliott is located in Matagorda County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elliott
    • Elliott has also been known as:
    • Elliott's
  • El Toro
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • El Toro is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for El Toro
  • Port Lavaca
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
  • Matagorda
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Inez
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
  • Navidad
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Navidad is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Navidad

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Francitas ...

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 47 newspapers that have been published in the area around Francitas.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Francitas. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Francitas and those printed in the larger area surrounding Francitas.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 25 miles [40.2 km]<4> of Francitas.

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 helpful 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 Francitas:

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 Francitas, 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Francitas) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.