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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 Keys Crossing (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 Keys Crossing. 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 Keys Crossing ...

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.

Keys Crossing was originally named Whitted Crossing

  • A typical abbreviation for Keys Crossing: Keys Xing.
  • While the name of this community is Keys Crossing, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Keys Crossing may originally have been Key's Crossing.

    Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Keys Crossing might be written as Key Crossing.

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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.

Keys Crossing is located in Brown 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 Brown County: Callahan, Coleman, Comanche, Eastland, McCulloch, Mills & San Saba.

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

  • Brown County     (The home county of Keys Crossing)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Keys Crossing, with the one closest to Keys Crossing listed first.
    • Indian Creek
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Creek
      • Indian Creek is located in Brown County
    • Brookesmith
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Brownwood
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brownwood have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brownwood
      • Brownwood is located in Brown County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 18,208 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Brownwood <2>
    • Bangs
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bangs have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bangs
      • Bangs is located in Brown County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,504 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bangs <2>
    • Early
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Zephyr
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Lake Brownwood
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lake Brownwood have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Brownwood
      • Lake Brownwood is located in Brown County
    • Fry ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fry have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fry
      • Fry is located in Brown County
    • Blanket
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Coleman County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Keys Crossing, with the one closest to Keys Crossing listed first.
    • Trickham
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trickham
      • Trickham is located in Coleman County
      • Former name for Trickham:
      • Trick'em
    • Whon ‑ Historic
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whon
      • Whon is located in Coleman County
    • Rockwood
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Santa Anna
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Gouldbusk
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
  • McCulloch County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Keys Crossing, with the one closest to Keys Crossing listed first.
    • Rochelle
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rochelle have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rochelle
      • Rochelle is located in McCulloch County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rochelle <2>
    • Waldrip
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Waldrip have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waldrip
      • Waldrip is located in McCulloch County
    • Lohn
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lohn have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lohn
      • Lohn is located in McCulloch County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lohn <2>
    • Pear Valley
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Mills County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Keys Crossing, with the one closest to Keys Crossing listed first.
    • Buffalo
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Buffalo have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buffalo
      • Buffalo is located in Mills County
    • Ebony ‑ Historic
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ebony have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ebony
      • Ebony is located in Mills County
    • Regency ‑ Historic
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Regency have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Regency
      • Regency is located in Mills County
    • Ridge
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ridge
      • Ridge is located in Mills County
    • Mullin
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Williams Ranch ‑ Historic
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Williams Ranch. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Williams Ranch
      • Williams Ranch is located in Mills County
    • Bozar
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bozar
      • Bozar is located in Mills County
    • Goldthwaite
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
  • San Saba County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Keys Crossing, with the one closest to Keys Crossing listed first.
    • Holt ‑ Historic
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holt
      • Holt is located in San Saba County
    • Locker ‑ Historic
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locker
      • Locker is located in San Saba County
    • Richland Springs
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Richland Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richland Springs
      • Richland Springs is located in San Saba County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 310 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Richland Springs <2>
    • San Saba
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)

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

Newspapers Published in Keys Crossing ...

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 15 newspapers that have been published in the area around Keys Crossing.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Keys Crossing, there are papers which were published within 26 miles [41.8 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Keys Crossing.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we start 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 Keys Crossing:

Cemeteries Near Keys Crossing ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Keys Crossing.

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

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

  • Bowser Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bowser Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bowser Cemetery
  • Beasley Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Beasley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Beasley Cemetery
  • McCarty Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the McCarty Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the McCarty Cemetery
  • Vargy Chapel Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Vargy Chapel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Vargy Chapel Cemetery
  • Cox Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Cox Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cox Cemetery
  • Indian Creek Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Indian Creek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Indian Creek Cemetery
  • Holt Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Ebony Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • The Ebony Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Buffalo Ebony Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ebony Cemetery
  • Smith Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Smith Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Smith Cemetery
  • Winchell Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Winchell Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Winchell Cemetery
  • Jordan Springs Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Jordan Springs Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jordan Springs Cemetery
  • Lee Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lee Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lee Cemetery
  • Continue List   (81 more) ...
    • Cowboy Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Cowboy Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cowboy Cemetery
    • Locker Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Locker Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Locker Cemetery
    • Rice Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Rice Cemetery is located 4 miles [6.4 km]<5> to the east of Brookesmith.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rice Cemetery

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

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

  • Indian Creek
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Creek
    • Indian Creek is located in Brown County
  • Milburn
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Milburn have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milburn
    • Milburn is located in McCulloch County
  • Regency ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Regency have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Regency
    • Regency is located in Mills County
  • Trickham
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trickham
    • Trickham is located in Coleman County
    • Former name for Trickham:
    • Trick'em
  • Richland Springs
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Richland Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richland Springs
    • Richland Springs is located in San Saba County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 310 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Richland Springs <2>
  • Ricker ‑ Historic
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ricker have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ricker
    • Ricker is located in Brown County
  • Brownwood
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brownwood have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brownwood
    • Brownwood is located in Brown County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 18,208 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Brownwood <2>
  • Bangs
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bangs have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bangs
    • Bangs is located in Brown County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,504 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bangs <2>
  • Zephyr
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
  • Rochelle
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rochelle have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rochelle
    • Rochelle is located in McCulloch County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rochelle <2>
  • Rockwood
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
  • Mullin
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (8 more) ...
    • Big Valley
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Big Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Valley
      • Big Valley is located in Mills County
    • Williams Ranch ‑ Historic
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Williams Ranch. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Williams Ranch
      • Williams Ranch is located in Mills County
    • Thrifty
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Thrifty have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thrifty
      • Thrifty is located in Brown County

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

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

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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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.
<4>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.
<5>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- Keys Crossing) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Keys Crossing. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.4793, Longitude: -99.0259    
<6>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.
<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 Keys Crossing, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024