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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 Houston (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 Houston. 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 Houston ...

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, Houston was referred to as Houston Courthouse.

You might be interested in other communities that are also named Houston. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Houston.

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 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.

Houston is primarily located in Harris County and is the County Seat. A portion of Houston extends into Fort Bend County and Montgomery 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 Harris County: Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Liberty, Montgomery & Waller.

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

  • Harris County     (The home county of Houston)
  • Brazoria County
  • Chambers County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Houston, with the one closest to Houston listed first.
    • Baytown
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Shoreacres
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Shoreacres is located in Chambers County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shoreacres
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,578 people
    • Seabrook
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Mont Belvieu
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Beach City
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Beach City is located in Chambers County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beach City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,825 people
  • Fort Bend County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Houston, with the one closest to Houston listed first.
    • Missouri City Estates
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Missouri City Estates is located in Fort Bend County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Missouri City Estates
    • Fresno
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Meadows Place
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Meadows Place is located in Fort Bend County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadows Place
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,813 people
    • Meadows
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Meadows is located in Fort Bend County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadows
    • Stafford
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Fifth Street
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Fifth Street is located in Fort Bend County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fifth Street
    • Missouri City
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Mission Bend
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Mission Bend is located in Fort Bend County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mission Bend
    • Town West
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Town West is located in Fort Bend County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Town West
    • Arcola
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Arcola is located in Fort Bend County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arcola
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,775 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Arcola <1>
    • Dewalt
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Trammels
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • First Colony
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • First Colony is located in Fort Bend County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for First Colony
  • Galveston County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Houston, with the one closest to Houston listed first.
    • Quaker Village
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Quaker Village is located in Galveston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quaker Village
    • Friendswood
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Parkwood Village
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Parkwood Village is located in Galveston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parkwood Village
    • Carmel Village
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Carmel Village is located in Galveston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carmel Village
    • League City
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Clear Lake Shores
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • South Shore Village
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • South Shore Village is located in Galveston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Shore Village
    • Kemah
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Kemah is located in Galveston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kemah
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,048 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Kemah <1>
    • Bacliff
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Dickinson
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Arcadia
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Santa Fe
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Liberty County
  • Montgomery County

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

Cemeteries Near Houston ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Houston.

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

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

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

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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Houston had a population of 27,557 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Houston had a population of 2,316,120 people.

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

  • Magnolia Park
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Harrisburg
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Harrisburg is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harrisburg
  • Pierce Junction
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Pierce Junction is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pierce Junction
  • Piney Point Village
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Jeanetta
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Jeanetta is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jeanetta
  • Aldine
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Red Bluff
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Red Bluff is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Bluff
  • Genoa
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Genoa is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Genoa
  • Stafford
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Sheldon
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Sheldon is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sheldon
  • Humble
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
  • Addicks
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Arcola
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Arcola is located in Fort Bend County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arcola
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,775 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Arcola <1>
    • Arcola Junction
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Arcola Junction is located in Fort Bend County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arcola Junction
    • Lynchburg
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Lynchburg is located in Harris County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lynchburg

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Houston ...

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 267 newspapers that have been published in the area around Houston.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Houston. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Houston and those printed in the larger area surrounding Houston.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 9 miles [14.5 km]<4> of Houston.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 Houston:

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 Houston, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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- Houston) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.