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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 Hilltop (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 Hilltop. 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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and 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.

Hilltop is located in Gillespie 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 Gillespie County: Blanco, Kendall, Kerr, Kimble, Llano & Mason.

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

  • Gillespie County     (The home county of Hilltop)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hilltop, with the one closest to Hilltop listed first.
    • Fredericksburg
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Doss
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Morris Ranch ‑ Historic
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
      • Morris Ranch is located in Gillespie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Morris Ranch
    • Tivydale
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Tivydale is located in Gillespie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tivydale
    • Eckert
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
      • Eckert is located in Gillespie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eckert
    • Willow City
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Cain City
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Cain City is located in Gillespie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cain City
    • Harper
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Blumenthal
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Blumenthal is located in Gillespie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blumenthal
    • Grapetown
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Grapetown is located in Gillespie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grapetown
    • Luckenbach
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Stonewall
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Albert
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Albert is located in Gillespie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Albert
  • Blanco County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hilltop, with the one closest to Hilltop listed first.
    • Blowout
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Blowout is located in Blanco County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blowout
    • Hye
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Sandy
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
  • Kendall County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hilltop, with the one closest to Hilltop listed first.
    • Bankersmith
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Bankersmith is located in Kendall County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bankersmith
    • Comfort
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
  • Kerr County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hilltop, with the one closest to Hilltop listed first.
    • Kerrville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Ingram
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Mountain Home
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Kimble County
    • Noxville ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Noxville is located in Kimble County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Noxville
  • Llano County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hilltop, with the one closest to Hilltop listed first.
    • Castell
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Click ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Click is located in Llano County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Click
    • Llano
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Mason County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hilltop, with the one closest to Hilltop listed first.
    • Loyal Valley
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
      • Loyal Valley is located in Mason County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loyal Valley
    • Hilda
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Hilda is located in Mason County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hilda
    • Hedwigs Hill ‑ Historic
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Hedwigs Hill is located in Mason County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hedwigs Hill
    • Art
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Mason
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Koockville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Koockville is located in Mason County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Koockville

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

Cemeteries Near Hilltop ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Hilltop.

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

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

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

  • Friedrich Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
  • Schugh Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Ketron Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Durst Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Wendel Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Dittmar Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Rode Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Ahrens Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Kothe Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Rode Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Dearing Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Squaw Creek Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (101 more) ...
    • Marschall Meusebach Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Lange Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Evers Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)

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 Hilltop in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Hilltop.

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

  • Fredericksburg
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Loyal Valley
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Loyal Valley is located in Mason County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loyal Valley
  • Willow City
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
  • Harper
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
  • Luckenbach
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
  • Hedwigs Hill ‑ Historic
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Hedwigs Hill is located in Mason County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hedwigs Hill
  • Stonewall
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Oxford ‑ Historic
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Oxford is located in Llano County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oxford
  • Castell
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
  • Blowout
    (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Blowout is located in Blanco County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blowout
  • Kerrville
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Hye
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (7 more) ...
    • Click ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Click is located in Llano County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Click
    • Ingram
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Mountain Home
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)

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

Newspapers Published in Hilltop ...

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 41 newspapers that have been published in the area around Hilltop.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Hilltop, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Hilltop.

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 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 Hilltop:

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