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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 Lake Brownwood (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 Lake Brownwood. 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 Lake Brownwood ...

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.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Lake Brownwood: Lk. Brownwood

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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.

Lake Brownwood 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 Lake Brownwood. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Lake Brownwood:

  • Brown County     (The home county of Lake Brownwood)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lake Brownwood, with the one closest to Lake Brownwood listed first.
    • Early
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Brownwood
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brownwood have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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 <1>
    • Ricker ‑ Historic
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ricker have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ricker
      • Ricker is located in Brown County
    • Fry ‑ Historic
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Fry. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fry
      • Fry is located in Brown County
    • May
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for May have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for May
      • May is located in Brown County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for May <1>
    • Bangs
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bangs have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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 <1>
    • Blanket
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Cross Cut
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cross Cut
      • Cross Cut is located in Brown County
    • Zephyr
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Brookesmith
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Indian Creek
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Creek
      • Indian Creek is located in Brown County
    • Keys Crossing
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keys Crossing
      • Keys Crossing is located in Brown County
  • Callahan County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lake Brownwood, with the one closest to Lake Brownwood listed first.
    • Cross Plains
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Cottonwood
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottonwood
      • Cottonwood is located in Callahan County
  • Coleman County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lake Brownwood, with the one closest to Lake Brownwood listed first.
    • Burkett
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Santa Anna
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Trickham
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trickham
      • Trickham is located in Coleman County
      • Former name for Trickham:
      • Trick'em
    • Coleman
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Whon ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whon
      • Whon is located in Coleman County
  • Comanche County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lake Brownwood, with the one closest to Lake Brownwood listed first.
    • Sidney
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sidney have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sidney
      • Sidney is located in Comanche County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sidney <1>
    • Sipe Springs
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sipe Springs
      • Sipe Springs is located in Comanche County
    • Comanche
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Duster
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Duster. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duster
      • Duster is located in Comanche County
    • Newburg
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Newburg have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newburg
      • Newburg is located in Comanche County
  • Eastland County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lake Brownwood, with the one closest to Lake Brownwood listed first.
    • Rising Star
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Okra
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Okra. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Okra
      • Okra is located in Eastland County
    • Nimrod ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nimrod
      • Nimrod is located in Eastland County
  • Mills County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lake Brownwood, with the one closest to Lake Brownwood listed first.
    • Ebony ‑ Historic
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Ebony. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ebony
      • Ebony is located in Mills County
    • Buffalo
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Buffalo have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buffalo
      • Buffalo is located in Mills County
    • Mullin
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Ridge
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ridge
      • Ridge is located in Mills County
    • Regency ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Regency have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Regency
      • Regency is located in Mills County

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

Cemeteries Near Lake Brownwood ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Lake Brownwood.

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

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

  • Roberts Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Roberts Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Roberts Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Macedonia Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Macedonia Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Macedonia Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Staley Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Staley Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Staley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Heflin Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Heflin Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Heflin Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jones Chapel Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jones Chapel Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Jones Chapel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Routh Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Routh Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Routh Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Pleasant Valley Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pleasant Valley Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pleasant Valley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Lost Creek Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lost Creek Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lost Creek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • McDaniel Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the McDaniel Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the McDaniel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Eastlawn Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Eastlawn Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Eastlawn Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Panther Creek Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Panther Creek Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Panther Creek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Greenleaf Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (80 more) ...
    • Clear Creek Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Clear Creek Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Clear Creek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Connell Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Connell Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Connell Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jenkins Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jenkins Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Jenkins Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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

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

  • Thrifty
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Thrifty have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thrifty
    • Thrifty is located in Brown County
  • Brownwood
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brownwood have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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 <1>
  • Ricker ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ricker have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ricker
    • Ricker is located in Brown County
  • Bangs
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bangs have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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 <1>
  • May
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for May have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for May
    • May is located in Brown County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for May <1>
  • Blanket
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
  • Cross Cut
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cross Cut
    • Cross Cut is located in Brown County
  • Zephyr
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Burkett
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Sidney
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sidney have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sidney
    • Sidney is located in Comanche County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sidney <1>
  • Rising Star
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
  • Santa Anna
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Pioneer
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pioneer have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pioneer
      • Pioneer is located in Eastland County
    • Trickham
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trickham
      • Trickham is located in Coleman County
      • Former name for Trickham:
      • Trick'em
    • Indian Creek
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Creek
      • Indian Creek 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 Lake Brownwood. See our List of 1890's Communities around Lake Brownwood.

Newspapers Published in Lake Brownwood ...

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 20 newspapers that have been published in the area around Lake Brownwood.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Lake Brownwood, there are papers which were published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Lake Brownwood.

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 professional and volunteer 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 Lake Brownwood:

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

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

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 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>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.
<4>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.
<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 Lake Brownwood, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Lake Brownwood) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Lake Brownwood. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.8357, Longitude: -99.0078       In this case, the coordinates for Lake Brownwood have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025