RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Texas >> Brazoria County >> Jones Creek >> Genealogy HelperIndex...










Learn About
The Commemorative
Quarter for
Texas


The Commemorative Quarter for Texas







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 Jones Creek (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 Jones Creek. 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 Jones Creek ...

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.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might have occurred.

  • A typical abbreviation for Jones Creek: Jones Crk. (or less commonly used: Jones Ck. or Jones Cr.)
  • While the name of this village is Jones Creek, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Jones Creek may originally have been Jone's Creek.

    Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Jones Creek might be written as Jone Creek.

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 southwest 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 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.

Jones Creek is located in Brazoria 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 Brazoria County: Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Matagorda & Wharton.

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

  • Brazoria County     (The home county of Jones Creek)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Jones Creek, with the one closest to Jones Creek listed first.
    • Freeport
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Freeport have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freeport
      • Freeport is located in Brazoria County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 12,126 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Freeport <3>
    • Velasco
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Velasco have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Velasco
      • Velasco is located in Brazoria County
    • Lake Jackson
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lake Jackson have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Jackson
      • Lake Jackson is located in Brazoria County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 27,063 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lake Jackson <3>
    • Clute
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clute have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clute
      • Clute is located in Brazoria County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 11,724 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Clute <3>
    • Richwood
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Richwood have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richwood
      • Richwood is located in Brazoria County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,015 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Richwood <3>
    • Oyster Creek
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oyster Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oyster Creek
      • Oyster Creek is located in Brazoria County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,212 people
    • Quintana
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Brazoria
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Surfside Beach
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Surfside Beach have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Surfside Beach
      • Surfside Beach is located in Brazoria County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 589 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Surfside Beach <3>
    • Bastrop Beach
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bastrop Beach
      • Bastrop Beach is located in Brazoria County
    • Angleton
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Angleton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Angleton
      • Angleton is located in Brazoria County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 19,521 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Angleton <3>
    • Bailey's Prairie
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bailey's Prairie
      • Bailey's Prairie is located in Brazoria County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 777 people
  • Matagorda County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Jones Creek, with the one closest to Jones Creek listed first.
    • Sargent
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Cedar Lane
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cedar Lane have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Lane
      • Cedar Lane is located in Matagorda County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cedar Lane <3>
    • Caney
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Caney have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Caney
      • Caney is located in Matagorda County
    • Van Vleck
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Bay City
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bay City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bay City
      • Bay City is located in Matagorda County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 17,474 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bay City <3>
    • Wadsworth
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wadsworth have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wadsworth
      • Wadsworth is located in Matagorda County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wadsworth <3>

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

Newspapers Published in Jones Creek ...

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 40 newspapers that have been published in the area around Jones Creek.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Jones Creek, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Jones Creek.

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 Jones Creek:

Cemeteries Near Jones Creek ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Jones Creek.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Jones Creek, with the one closest to Jones Creek 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.<7>

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

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

  • Velasco
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Velasco have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Velasco
    • Velasco is located in Brazoria County
  • Hinkles Ferry
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hinkles Ferry have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hinkles Ferry
    • Hinkles Ferry is located in Brazoria County
  • Oyster Creek
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oyster Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oyster Creek
    • Oyster Creek is located in Brazoria County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,212 people
  • Quintana
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Brazoria
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Chenango
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chenango have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chenango
    • Chenango is located in Brazoria County
  • Bonney
    (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bonney have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bonney
    • Bonney is located in Brazoria County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 380 people
  • Liverpool
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
  • Caney
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Caney have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Caney
    • Caney is located in Matagorda County
  • Sandy Point
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Point
    • Sandy Point is located in Brazoria County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 238 people

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

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

The official website for Brazoria County: www.brazoria-county.com/

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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).
<2>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.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Jones Creek) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Jones Creek. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 28.9710, Longitude: -95.4521    
<5>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.
<6>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<7>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 Jones Creek, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.









 

Copyright 2024
All Rights Reserved

Thank you for visiting our website.

In closing, please keep in mind that we can not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information on this website, so use with care. We encourage you to double-check the information that is critical to you.

If you've found an error or have additional information that you would like to share, please don't hesitate to write: Click here to contact us.

This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024