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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 Garretts Bluff (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 Garretts Bluff. 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 Garretts Bluff ...

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.

  • A typical abbreviation for Garretts Bluff: Garretts Blf. (or less commonly used: Garretts Bluf.)
  • While the name of this community is Garretts Bluff, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Garretts Bluff may originally have been Garrett's Bluff.

    Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Garretts Bluff might be written as Garrett Bluff.

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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors 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.

Garretts Bluff is located in Lamar 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 Lamar County: Bryan (OK), Choctaw (OK), Delta, Fannin & Red River.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Garretts Bluff ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Garretts Bluff.

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 Garretts Bluff covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Community Hall Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Community Hall Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Community Hall Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Post Oak Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Post Oak Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Post Oak Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Reid Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Reid Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Reid Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Bluff Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bluff Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bluff Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • New Macedonia Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the New Macedonia Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the New Macedonia Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Crowder Springs Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Crowder Springs Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Crowder Springs Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Pyles Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pyles Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pyles Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Sumner Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sumner Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sumner Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Forest Chapel Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Caviness Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Caviness Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Caviness Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Littlejohn Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Littlejohn Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Littlejohn Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Little Vine Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Little Vine Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Little Vine Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (165 more) ...
    • Prairie Ridge Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Prairie Ridge Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Prairie Ridge Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Casey Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Casey Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Casey Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Crowder Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Crowder Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Crowder Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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.<6>

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

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

  • Direct
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Emberson
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Emberson have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Emberson
    • Emberson is located in Lamar County
  • Chicota
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Sumner
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • Maxey
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Maxey have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maxey
    • Maxey is located in Lamar County
  • Powderly
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
  • Arthur City
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Arthur City have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arthur City
    • Arthur City is located in Lamar County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Arthur City <3>
  • Monkstown
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Monkstown have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monkstown
    • Monkstown is located in Fannin County
  • Hinckley
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Hinckley. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hinckley
    • Hinckley is located in Lamar County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Hinckley
    • From Garretts Bluff to Hinckley
  • Selfs
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Selfs have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Selfs
    • Selfs is located in Fannin County
  • High
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for High. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High
    • High is located in Lamar County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to High
    • From Garretts Bluff to High
  • Brookston
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brookston have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brookston
    • Brookston is located in Lamar County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Brookston <3>
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in Garretts Bluff ...

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 80 newspapers that have been published in the area around Garretts Bluff.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Garretts Bluff, there are papers which were published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<7>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Garretts Bluff.

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 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 Garretts Bluff:

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

The official website for Lamar County: www.co.lamar.tx.us/

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

Footnotes ...

<1>It's generally believed that possessive apostrophes are removed to prevent confusion on maps where the apostrophe may be confused with a cartographic symbol. While this is generally true, it's not uncommon to find possessive apostrophes in administrative names (such as towns or counties).
<2>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.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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.
<5>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.
<6>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 Garretts Bluff, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<7>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Garretts Bluff) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Garretts Bluff. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.8713, Longitude: -95.7212    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025