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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 Lancaster (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 Lancaster. 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.

Lancaster is located in Dallas 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 Dallas County: Collin, Denton, Ellis, Kaufman, Rockwall & Tarrant.

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

  • Dallas County     (The home county of Lancaster)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lancaster, with the one closest to Lancaster listed first.
    • DeSoto
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Wilmer
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Hutchins
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Glenn Heights
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Shamrock
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Shamrock is located in Dallas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shamrock
    • Lisbon ‑ Historic
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Lisbon is located in Dallas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lisbon
    • Ferris
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Ovilla
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Duncanville
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Sargent
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • Sargent is located in Dallas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sargent
    • Jim Town ‑ Historic
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Jim Town is located in Dallas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jim Town
      • Jim Town has also been known as:
      • Jimtown
    • Jimtown Junction ‑ Historic
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Jimtown Junction is located in Dallas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jimtown Junction
      • Jimtown Junction has also been known as:
      • Jim Town Junction
    • Cedar Hill
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Collin County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lancaster, with the one closest to Lancaster listed first.
    • Carrollton
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Sachse
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Plano
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Plano is located in Collin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plano
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 291,296 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Plano <1>
    • Murphy
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
  • Ellis County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lancaster, with the one closest to Lancaster listed first.
    • Red Oak
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Oak Leaf
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Oak Leaf is located in Ellis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Leaf
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,498 people
    • Pecan Hill
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
      • Pecan Hill is located in Ellis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pecan Hill
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 714 people
    • Sterrett
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
      • Sterrett is located in Ellis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sterrett
    • Ike
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
      • Ike is located in Ellis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ike
    • Palmer
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Sardis
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Sardis is located in Ellis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sardis
    • Walnut Springs
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
      • Walnut Springs is located in Ellis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Springs
    • Waxahachie
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Midlothian
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Boyce
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • Boyce is located in Ellis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boyce
    • Bristol
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Bristol is located in Ellis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bristol
    • Britton
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Britton is located in Ellis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Britton
  • Johnson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lancaster, with the one closest to Lancaster listed first.
    • Lillian
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Alvarado
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Kaufman County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lancaster, with the one closest to Lancaster listed first.
    • Crandall
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Forney
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Rosser
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Scurry
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Talty
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Talty is located in Kaufman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Talty
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,883 people
    • Cottonwood
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Cottonwood is located in Kaufman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottonwood
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 209 people
    • Heath
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Heath is located in Kaufman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heath
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,718 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Heath <1>
    • Lone Star
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Lone Star is located in Kaufman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lone Star
    • Grays Prairie
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Grays Prairie is located in Kaufman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grays Prairie
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 388 people
    • Post Oak Bend City
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Post Oak Bend City is located in Kaufman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Post Oak Bend City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 626 people
    • Kaufman
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Lawrence
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Lawrence is located in Kaufman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lawrence
    • Oak Grove
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Oak Grove is located in Kaufman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 704 people
  • Navarro County
    • Rice
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Rice is located in Navarro County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rice
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 983 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rice <1>
  • Rockwall County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lancaster, with the one closest to Lancaster listed first.
    • McLendon - Chisholm
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • McLendon - Chisholm is located in Rockwall County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McLendon - Chisholm
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,815 people
    • Rockwall
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Tarrant County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lancaster, with the one closest to Lancaster listed first.
    • Arlington
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Johnsons Station
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Johnsons Station is located in Tarrant County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johnsons Station
    • University Park Village
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Dalworthington Gardens
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Pantego
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Euless
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Minters Chapel ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Minters Chapel is located in Tarrant County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minters Chapel
    • Kennedale
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Bedford
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Rendon
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Rendon is located in Tarrant County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rendon
    • Retta
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Retta is located in Tarrant County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Retta
    • Hurst
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Hurst is located in Tarrant County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hurst
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 38,172 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hurst <1>
    • Forest Hill
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)

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

Cemeteries Near Lancaster ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Lancaster.

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

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

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

  • Rawlins Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Edgewood Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Vincent Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Laurel Land Memorial Park
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Laurel Land Memorial Park
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Laurel Land Memorial Park is a very large cemetery that is located in Dallas.
    • The Laurel Land Memorial Park has also been known as:
    • New Oak Cliff Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #4768 <2>
  • Wheatland Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Red Oak Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Bluff Springs Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Trinity Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Lisbon Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Rhodes Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Douglas Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Old Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (190 more) ...
    • Ferris Park Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Carver Memorial Park
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Shiloh Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)

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.<3>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Lancaster had a population of 741 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Lancaster had a population of 39,265 people.

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

  • DeSoto
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Red Oak
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Wilmer
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Hutchins
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Ovilla
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Ferris
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Lisbon ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Lisbon is located in Dallas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lisbon
  • Sterrett
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Sterrett is located in Ellis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sterrett
  • Duncanville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Oak Cliff
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Oak Cliff is located in Dallas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Cliff
  • Kleberg
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Kleberg is located in Dallas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kleberg
  • Rylie
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Rylie is located in Dallas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rylie
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Cedar Hill
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Dallas
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
      • Dallas is located in Dallas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dallas
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,343,266 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Dallas <1>
    • Sardis
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Sardis is located in Ellis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sardis

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Lancaster ...

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 292 newspapers that have been published in the area around Lancaster.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Lancaster. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Lancaster and those printed in the larger area surrounding Lancaster.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 25 miles [40.2 km]<4> of Lancaster.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 Lancaster:

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>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 Lancaster, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Lancaster) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.