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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 Goliad (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 Goliad. 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 Goliad ...

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.

In past government published Postal Guides, Goliad was referred to as Goliad Courthouse.

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.

For more information about how community names might have been affected by the Board of Geographic Names (BGN), see our page about Placename Rules.

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.

Goliad is located in Goliad County and is the County Seat.

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 Goliad County: Bee, DeWitt, Karnes, Refugio & Victoria.

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

  • Goliad County     (The home county of Goliad)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Goliad, with the one closest to Goliad listed first.
    • Kilgore
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Kilgore is located in Goliad County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kilgore
    • Fannin
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Angel City
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Angel City is located in Goliad County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Angel City
    • Cologne
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Cologne is located in Goliad County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cologne
      • Former names for Cologne:
      • Centerville
      • Ira Station
      • Perdido
    • Weesatche
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Ander
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Ander is located in Goliad County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ander
    • Weser
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Weser is located in Goliad County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weser
    • Berclair
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Bee County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Goliad, with the one closest to Goliad listed first.
    • Blanconia
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Blanconia is located in Bee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blanconia
      • Former names for Blanconia:
      • Dark Corners
      • Pull Tight
    • Normanna
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Pettus
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Tuleta
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Tulsita
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Tulsita is located in Bee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tulsita
    • Beeville
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Blue Berry Hill
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Blue Berry Hill is located in Bee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blue Berry Hill
  • DeWitt County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Goliad, with the one closest to Goliad listed first.
    • Meyersville
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Yorktown
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Nordheim
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Thomaston
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Cuero
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
  • Karnes County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Goliad, with the one closest to Goliad listed first.
    • Runge
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Kenedy
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Flaccus ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Flaccus is located in Karnes County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flaccus
  • Refugio County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Goliad, with the one closest to Goliad listed first.
    • Refugio
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Woodsboro
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Victoria County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Goliad, with the one closest to Goliad listed first.
    • Oak Village
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
      • Oak Village is located in Victoria County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Village
    • Coletoville
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Coletoville is located in Victoria County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coletoville
    • Aloe
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Aloe is located in Victoria County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aloe
    • McFaddin
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Nursery
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Victoria
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Hughes ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Hughes is located in Victoria County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hughes
    • Bloomington
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)

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

Cemeteries Near Goliad ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Goliad.

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

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

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

  • Glendale Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • Wisbey Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Flores Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
  • Rubio Cristo Rey Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
  • Lott Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Sepenter Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Killebrew Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Lott Pettus Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • San Jasinto Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Fannin Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Danforth Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • San Antonio Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (92 more) ...
    • Barnes Cemetery
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Sarco Cemetery
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Lott Cemetery
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)

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.<2>

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

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

  • Fannin
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Weesatche
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
  • Weser
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Weser is located in Goliad County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weser
  • Charco
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Charco is located in Goliad County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charco
  • Berclair
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Meyersville
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
  • Blanconia
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Blanconia is located in Bee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blanconia
    • Former names for Blanconia:
    • Dark Corners
    • Pull Tight
  • Mission Valley
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Mission Valley is located in Victoria County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mission Valley
  • Aloe
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Aloe is located in Victoria County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aloe
  • Yorktown
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
  • Arneckeville
    (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Arneckeville is located in DeWitt County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arneckeville
  • Nursery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (8 more) ...
    • Runge
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Victoria
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Pettus
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Goliad ...

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 53 newspapers that have been published in the area around Goliad.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Goliad. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Goliad and those printed in the larger area surrounding Goliad.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3> of Goliad.

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 Goliad:

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>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 Goliad, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Goliad) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.