Our Genealogy Helper
Introduction ...
Although we found mention of Hays City during our research, we have little information about it.<1> Given the context of how Hays City was mentioned, we believe that it was a community rather than a locale or some type of landmark. We have done a cursory search and if it was a community, we haven't been able to find any evidence that it still exists..
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 Hays City (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 Hays City. 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 Hays City ...
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.
While the name of this community is Hays City, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<2>. So Hays City may originally have been Hay's City.
Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Hays City might be written as Hay City.
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 doctors 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.
Hays City is located in Hays 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 Hays County: Blanco, Caldwell, Comal, Guadalupe & Travis.
Below are the counties that are near Hays City. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Hays City:
- Hays County (The home county of Hays City)
- The following are listed by their distance from Hays City, with the one closest to Hays City listed first.
- Mountain City
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Mountain City is located in Hays County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain City
- Population from the 2020 Census: 858 people
- Driftwood
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Flatrock Ford
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- Flatrock Ford is located in Hays County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flatrock Ford
- Kyle
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Wimberley
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Woodcreek
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- Woodcreek is located in Hays County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodcreek
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,758 people
- Buda
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
- Hays
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
- Hays is located in Hays County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hays
- Population from the 2020 Census: 283 people
- Cloptins Crossing
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- Cloptins Crossing is located in Hays County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cloptins Crossing
- Pioneer Town
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- Pioneer Town is located in Hays County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pioneer Town
- Bear Creek
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
- Bear Creek is located in Hays County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bear Creek
- Estimated population in 2017: 445 people
- Goforth
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
- Goforth is located in Hays County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goforth
- Dripping Springs
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
- Bastrop County
- The following are listed by their distance from Hays City, with the one closest to Hays City listed first.
- Mustang Ridge
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
- Mustang Ridge is located in Bastrop County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mustang Ridge
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,001 people
- Cedar Creek
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
- Blanco County
- The following are listed by their distance from Hays City, with the one closest to Hays City listed first.
- Twin Sisters
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
- Twin Sisters is located in Blanco County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Sisters
- Blanco
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- Cypress Mill
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
- Johnson City
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
- Caldwell County
- The following are listed by their distance from Hays City, with the one closest to Hays City listed first.
- Uhland
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
- Uhland is located in Caldwell County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Uhland
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,355 people
- Reedville
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
- Reedville is located in Caldwell County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reedville
- Niederwald
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
- Niederwald is located in Caldwell County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Niederwald
- Population from the 2020 Census: 576 people
- Martindale
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
- Maxwell
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
- Mendoza
(18 miles [29 km] to the east)
- Mendoza is located in Caldwell County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mendoza
- Lytton Springs
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
- Lytton Springs is located in Caldwell County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lytton Springs
- Lockhart
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
- Fentress
(23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
- Prairie Lea
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
- Dale
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
- Joliet
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
- Joliet is located in Caldwell County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Joliet
- Mineral Springs ‑ Historic
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
- Mineral Springs is located in Caldwell County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mineral Springs
- Comal County
- The following are listed by their distance from Hays City, with the one closest to Hays City listed first.
- Royal Forest
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
- Royal Forest is located in Comal County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Royal Forest
- Hunter
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Hunter is located in Comal County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunter
- Canyon City
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
- Canyon City is located in Comal County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canyon City
- Fourth Crossing
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
- Fourth Crossing is located in Comal County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fourth Crossing
- Sattler
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
- Sattler is located in Comal County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sattler
- Fischer
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
- Third Crossing
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
- Third Crossing is located in Comal County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Third Crossing
- Canyon Lake Forest
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
- Canyon Lake Forest is located in Comal County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canyon Lake Forest
- Canyon Lake
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
- Cranes Mill
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
- Cranes Mill is located in Comal County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cranes Mill
- Canyon Springs
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
- Canyon Springs is located in Comal County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canyon Springs
- First Crossing
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
- First Crossing is located in Comal County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for First Crossing
- Second Crossing
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
- Second Crossing is located in Comal County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Second Crossing
- Guadalupe County
- The following are listed by their distance from Hays City, with the one closest to Hays City listed first.
- Redwood
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Redwood is located in Guadalupe County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Redwood
- Zorn
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
- Zorn is located in Guadalupe County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zorn
- Staples
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
- Galle
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
- Galle is located in Guadalupe County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galle
- Barbarosa
(23 miles [37 km] to the south)
- Barbarosa is located in Guadalupe County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barbarosa
- Weinert
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
- Weinert is located in Guadalupe County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weinert
- Clear Springs
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
- Clear Springs is located in Guadalupe County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clear Springs
- Camp Willow
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
- Camp Willow is located in Guadalupe County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Camp Willow
- Geronimo
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
- Lake Dunlap
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
- Lake Dunlap is located in Guadalupe County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Dunlap
- Schumannsville
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
- Schumannsville is located in Guadalupe County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Schumannsville
- Kingsbury
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
- Lauback
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
- Lauback is located in Guadalupe County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lauback
- Travis County
- The following are listed by their distance from Hays City, with the one closest to Hays City listed first.
- Manchaca
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
- Shady Hollow
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
- Shady Hollow is located in Travis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Hollow
- San Leanna
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
- San Leanna is located in Travis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Leanna
- Population from the 2020 Census: 507 people
- Tanglewood Forest
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
- Tanglewood Forest is located in Travis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tanglewood Forest
- Onion Creek
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
- Onion Creek is located in Travis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Onion Creek
- Carl
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
- Carl is located in Travis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carl
- Creedmoor
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
- Sunset Valley
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
- Barton Creek
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
- Barton Creek is located in Travis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barton Creek
- Bee Cave
(18 miles [29 km] to the north)
- Lost Creek
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
- Lost Creek is located in Travis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lost Creek
- Pilot Knob
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
- Pilot Knob is located in Travis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pilot Knob
- Rollingwood
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
- Rollingwood is located in Travis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rollingwood
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,571 people
- Williamson County
- The following are listed by their distance from Hays City, with the one closest to Hays City listed first.
- Anderson Mill
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
- Anderson Mill is located in Williamson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Anderson Mill
- Jollyville
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
- Jollyville is located in Williamson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jollyville
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Hays City, see our County-by-County Page for Hays City.
Cemeteries Near Hays City ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Hays City.
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 Hays City - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Hays City covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Hays City, with the one closest to Hays City listed first.
- Barton Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- Kyle Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- San Vincente Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Johnson Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
- Jacobs Well Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
- Kyle Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
- Antioch Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
- Allen Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Allen Cemetery
- The Allen Cemetery has also been known as:
- Allen - Good Cemetery
- Gatlin - Garrett Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
- Cementerio Guadalupe Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
- San Marcos Community Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
- Wallace Mtn. Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
- Continue List (180 more) ...
- Phillips Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
- Hugo Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hugo Cemetery
- The Hugo Cemetery has also been known as:
- Purgatory Springs Cemetery
- San Marcos Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
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 Hays City in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Hays City.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Hays City, with the one closest to Hays City listed first.
- Driftwood
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Wimberley
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Kyle
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Buda
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
- San Marcos
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
- Goforth
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
- Goforth is located in Hays County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goforth
- Manchaca
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
- Dripping Springs
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
- Cedar Valley
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
- Cedar Valley is located in Travis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Valley
- Reedville
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
- Reedville is located in Caldwell County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reedville
- Carl
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
- Carl is located in Travis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carl
- Creedmoor
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
- Continue List (14 more) ...
- Bluff Springs
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
- Bluff Springs is located in Travis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bluff Springs
- Oak Hill
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
- Oak Hill is located in Travis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Hill
- Hunter
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Hunter is located in Comal County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunter
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Hays City. See our List of 1890's Communities around Hays City.
Newspapers Published in Hays City ...
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 307 newspapers that have been published in the area around Hays City.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Hays City, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Hays City.
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 Hays City:
- Websites specific to Texas
- Pages specific to Hays County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Bastrop County
- Blanco County
- Caldwell County
- Comal County
- Guadalupe County
- Travis County
- Williamson County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Texas
Footnotes ...
| <1> | If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer. For example, we might find a sentence like "He went south past Hays City and then turned east". While Hays City could be some kind of landmark, we think that it's more likely to be a community. We've added Hays City as a placeholder with the hope that we'll be able to add more information in the future.
Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.
Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.
Also keep in mind that Hays City could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
Since confusion between counties is common, we searched and weren't able to find another Texas community named Hays City. |
| <2> | 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). |
| <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 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 Hays City, 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Hays City) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |