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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 Massey Lake (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 Massey Lake. 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 Massey Lake ...

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 Massey Lake: Massey Lk.

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.

Massey Lake is located in Anderson 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 Anderson County: Cherokee, Freestone, Henderson, Houston & Leon.

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

  • Anderson County     (The home county of Massey Lake)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Massey Lake, with the one closest to Massey Lake listed first.
    • Tennessee Colony
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Harmony
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Harmony. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harmony
      • Harmony is located in Anderson County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Harmony
      • From Massey Lake to Harmony
    • Yard ‑ Historic
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Yard have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yard
      • Yard is located in Anderson County
    • Ward
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Ward. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ward
      • Ward is located in Anderson County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Ward
      • From Massey Lake to Ward
    • Greens Bluff
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Bethel
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Blackfoot
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Blackfoot. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blackfoot
      • Blackfoot is located in Anderson County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Blackfoot
      • From Massey Lake to Blackfoot
    • Montalba
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Montalba have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montalba
      • Montalba is located in Anderson County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Montalba <1>
    • Cayuga
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Tucker
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Springfield
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Bois d'Arc
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Long Lake
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Long Lake. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Lake
      • Long Lake is located in Anderson County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Long Lake
      • From Massey Lake to Long Lake
  • Cherokee County
    • Cuney
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cuney have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cuney
      • Cuney is located in Cherokee County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 140 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cuney <1>
  • Freestone County
  • Henderson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Massey Lake, with the one closest to Massey Lake listed first.
    • Cross Roads
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Pine Grove
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • LaRue
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Poynor
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Poynor have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poynor
      • Poynor is located in Henderson County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 311 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Poynor <1>
    • Malakoff
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Malakoff have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Malakoff
      • Malakoff is located in Henderson County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,314 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Malakoff <1>
    • Trinidad
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Athens
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Star Harbor
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Star Harbor have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Star Harbor
      • Star Harbor is located in Henderson County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 487 people
    • Caney City
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Caney City have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Caney City
      • Caney City is located in Henderson County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 223 people
    • Log Cabin
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Log Cabin have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Log Cabin
      • Log Cabin is located in Henderson County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 785 people
    • Berryville
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Berryville. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berryville
      • Berryville is located in Henderson County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,066 people
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Berryville
      • From Massey Lake to Berryville
  • Leon County
  • Navarro County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Massey Lake, with the one closest to Massey Lake listed first.
    • Eureka
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Eureka have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eureka
      • Eureka is located in Navarro County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 315 people
    • Goodlow
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Kerens
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Massey Lake ...

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Massey Lake, with the one closest to Massey Lake 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.<6>

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

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

  • Tennessee Colony
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Bethel
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Montalba
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Montalba have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montalba
    • Montalba is located in Anderson County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Montalba <1>
  • Blackfoot
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Blackfoot. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blackfoot
    • Blackfoot is located in Anderson County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Blackfoot
    • From Massey Lake to Blackfoot
  • Butler
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Butler have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Butler
    • Butler is located in Freestone County
  • Tucker
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Long Lake
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Long Lake. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Lake
    • Long Lake is located in Anderson County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Long Lake
    • From Massey Lake to Long Lake
  • Young
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Young have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Young
    • Young is located in Freestone County
  • Bradford
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Palestine
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
  • Oakwood
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oakwood have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakwood
    • Oakwood is located in Freestone County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 514 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Oakwood <1>
  • Cronin
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Cronin. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cronin
    • Cronin is located in Anderson County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Cronin
    • From Massey Lake to Cronin
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in Massey Lake ...

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 32 newspapers that have been published in the area around Massey Lake.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Massey Lake, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Massey Lake.

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 helpful 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 Massey Lake:

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

The official website for Anderson County: www.co.anderson.tx.us/

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>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.
<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>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>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Massey Lake) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Massey Lake. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.8119, Longitude: -95.8698    
<6>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 Massey Lake, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025