RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Texas >> Navarro County >> Kerens >> Genealogy HelperIndex...

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 Kerens (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 Kerens. 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.

Kerens is located in Navarro 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 Navarro County: Anderson, Ellis, Freestone, Henderson, Hill & Limestone.

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

  • Navarro County     (The home county of Kerens)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Kerens, with the one closest to Kerens listed first.
    • Goodlow
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Goodlow is located in Navarro County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodlow
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 197 people
      • Goodlow has also been known as:
      • Goodlow Park
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Goodlow
      • From Kerens to Goodlow
    • Bazette
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Elm Flat
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Powell
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Powell is located in Navarro County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Powell
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 149 people
    • Mildred
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Mildred is located in Navarro County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mildred
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 400 people
    • Eureka
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Roane
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Navarro
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Navarro is located in Navarro County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Navarro
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 217 people
    • Chatfield
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Tupelo
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Mustang
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Mustang is located in Navarro County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mustang
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 23 people
    • Corsicana
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Angus
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Anderson County
  • Ellis County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Kerens, with the one closest to Kerens listed first.
    • Alma
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Alma is located in Ellis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alma
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 400 people
    • Telico
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Ennis
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Crisp
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Bardwell
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Garrett
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Garrett is located in Ellis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garrett
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 891 people
    • Bristol
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Freestone County
  • Henderson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Kerens, with the one closest to Kerens listed first.
    • Trinidad
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Tool
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
      • Tool is located in Henderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tool
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,335 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Tool <1>
    • Star Harbor
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Star Harbor is located in Henderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Star Harbor
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 487 people
    • Enchanted Oaks
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Enchanted Oaks is located in Henderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Enchanted Oaks
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 343 people
    • Malakoff
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Caney City
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Caney City is located in Henderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Caney City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 223 people
    • Payne Springs
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Payne Springs is located in Henderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Payne Springs
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 756 people
    • Seven Points
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Log Cabin
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Log Cabin is located in Henderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Log Cabin
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 785 people
    • Gun Barrel City
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Cross Roads
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Eustace
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Athens
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
  • Kaufman County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Kerens, with the one closest to Kerens listed first.
    • Tolosa
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Mabank
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Styx
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Stubbs
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Kemp
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Becker
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Grays Prairie
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Grays Prairie is located in Kaufman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grays Prairie
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 388 people
    • Prairieville
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Cottonwood
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Cottonwood is located in Kaufman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottonwood
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 209 people
    • Rosser
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Oak Grove
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Oak Grove is located in Kaufman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 704 people
    • Scurry
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Ola
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
  • Van Zandt County

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

Cemeteries Near Kerens ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Kerens.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Kerens, with the one closest to Kerens 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.<4>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Kerens had a population of 503 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Kerens had a population of 1,519 people.

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

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Kerens ...

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 52 newspapers that have been published in the area around Kerens.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Kerens. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Kerens and those printed in the larger area surrounding Kerens.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<3> of Kerens.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with 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 Kerens:

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