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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 Mingus (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 Mingus. 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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals 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.

Mingus is located in Palo Pinto 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 Palo Pinto County: Eastland, Erath, Hood, Jack, Parker, Stephens & Young.

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

  • Palo Pinto County     (The home county of Mingus)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mingus, with the one closest to Mingus listed first.
    • Gordon
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Strawn
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Santo
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Palo Pinto
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Brazos
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Brazos is located in Palo Pinto County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brazos
    • Mineral Wells
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Wolters Village
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Wolters Village is located in Palo Pinto County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wolters Village
    • Graford
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
  • Comanche County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mingus, with the one closest to Mingus listed first.
    • Rucker
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Rucker is located in Comanche County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rucker
    • De Leon
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Eastland County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mingus, with the one closest to Mingus listed first.
    • Ranger
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Desdemona
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Olden
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Kokomo
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Kokomo is located in Eastland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kokomo
    • Eastland
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Gorman
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Carbon
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Mangum ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Mangum is located in Eastland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mangum
  • Erath County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mingus, with the one closest to Mingus listed first.
    • Thurber
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Hannibal
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Hannibal is located in Erath County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hannibal
    • Morgan Mill
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Lingleville
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Bunyan
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Bunyan is located in Erath County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bunyan
    • Stephenville
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Bluff Dale
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Harbin
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Harbin is located in Erath County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harbin
  • Hood County
    • Lipan
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
  • Parker County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mingus, with the one closest to Mingus listed first.
    • Millsap
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Brock
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Brock is located in Parker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brock
    • Dennis
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Cool
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Cool is located in Parker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cool
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 191 people
  • Stephens County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mingus, with the one closest to Mingus listed first.
    • La Casa ‑ Historic
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • La Casa is located in Stephens County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Casa
    • Caddo
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Necessity
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Necessity is located in Stephens County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Necessity
    • Wayland
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Wayland is located in Stephens County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wayland
    • Gunsight ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Gunsight is located in Stephens County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gunsight

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

Cemeteries Near Mingus ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Mingus.

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

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

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

  • Thurber Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
  • Davidson Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Guest Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • McSpadden Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
  • New Gordon Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Doty Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Old Gordon Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Fox Mtn. Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Smith Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Hutchins Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Mt. Marion Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Gibson Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (124 more) ...
    • Tudor Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Swank Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Johnson Vault
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)

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.<2>

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

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

  • Thurber
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • Gordon
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Strawn
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Hannibal
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Hannibal is located in Erath County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hannibal
  • Santo
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
  • Tiffin
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Tiffin is located in Eastland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tiffin
  • Ranger
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
  • Huckabay
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Huckabay is located in Erath County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huckabay
  • La Casa ‑ Historic
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • La Casa is located in Stephens County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Casa
  • Palo Pinto
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Caddo
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
  • Desdemona
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Brazos
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Brazos is located in Palo Pinto County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brazos
    • Olden
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Lingleville
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Mingus ...

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 56 newspapers that have been published in the area around Mingus.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Mingus. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Mingus and those printed in the larger area surrounding Mingus.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3> of Mingus.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin 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 Mingus:

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>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 Mingus, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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 from Point A (ie- Mingus) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.