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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 Idalou (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 Idalou. 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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and 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.

Idalou is located in Lubbock 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 Lubbock County: Crosby, Floyd, Garza, Hale, Hockley, Lamb, Lynn & Terry.

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

  • Lubbock County     (The home county of Idalou)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Idalou, with the one closest to Idalou listed first.
    • Kitalou
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Canyon
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Heckville ‑ Historic
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Heckville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heckville
      • Heckville is located in Lubbock County
    • Becton
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Buffalo Springs
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Buffalo Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buffalo Springs
      • Buffalo Springs is located in Lubbock County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 441 people
    • Ransom Canyon
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ransom Canyon have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ransom Canyon
      • Ransom Canyon is located in Lubbock County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,126 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ransom Canyon <2>
    • New Deal
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for New Deal have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Deal
      • New Deal is located in Lubbock County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 841 people
    • Posey
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Lubbock
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Slaton
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Shallowater
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Reese Village
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Reese Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reese Village
      • Reese Village is located in Lubbock County
  • Crosby County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Idalou, with the one closest to Idalou listed first.
    • Lorenzo
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lorenzo have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lorenzo
      • Lorenzo is located in Crosby County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,110 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lorenzo <2>
    • Estacado ‑ Historic
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Savage ‑ Historic
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Farmer
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Ralls
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Cone
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Owens
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Cap Rock
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Crosbyton
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Crosbyton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crosbyton
      • Crosbyton is located in Crosby County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,557 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Crosbyton <2>
    • Canyon Valley ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Canyon Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canyon Valley
      • Canyon Valley is located in Crosby County
    • Mount Blanco ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
  • Floyd County
    • Floydada
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Floydada have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Floydada
      • Floydada is located in Floyd County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,654 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Floydada <2>
  • Garza County
  • Hale County
  • Hockley County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Idalou, with the one closest to Idalou listed first.
    • Roundup
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Smyer
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Smyer have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smyer
      • Smyer is located in Hockley County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 480 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Smyer <2>
    • Anton
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Anton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Anton
      • Anton is located in Hockley County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,089 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Anton <2>
  • Lynn County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Idalou, with the one closest to Idalou listed first.
    • Wilson
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wilson have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilson
      • Wilson is located in Lynn County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 493 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wilson <2>
    • Wayside ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wayside have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wayside
      • Wayside is located in Lynn County
    • New Home
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for New Home have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Home
      • New Home is located in Lynn County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 375 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for New Home <2>

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

Cemeteries Near Idalou ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Idalou.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Idalou, with the one closest to Idalou 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.<5>

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

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

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Idalou ...

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 61 newspapers that have been published in the area around Idalou.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Idalou. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Idalou and those printed in the larger area surrounding Idalou.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<4> of Idalou.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin with 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 Idalou:

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

The official website for Lubbock County: www.co.lubbock.tx.us/

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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.
<4>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- Idalou) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Idalou. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.6625, Longitude: -101.6829    
<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 Idalou, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025