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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 Novice (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 Novice. 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.

Novice is located in Coleman 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 Coleman County: Brown, Callahan, Concho, McCulloch, Runnels & Taylor.

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

  • Coleman County     (The home county of Novice)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Novice, with the one closest to Novice listed first.
    • Goldsboro
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Glen Cove
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
      • Glen Cove is located in Coleman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Cove
    • Talpa
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Valera
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Coleman
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Burkett
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Santa Anna
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Voss
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
  • Brown County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Novice, with the one closest to Novice listed first.
    • Fry ‑ Historic
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Fry is located in Brown County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fry
    • Cross Cut
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Cross Cut is located in Brown County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cross Cut
  • Callahan County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Novice, with the one closest to Novice listed first.
    • Denton
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Denton is located in Callahan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Denton
      • Denton has also been known as:
      • Denton Valley
    • Rowden
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Rowden is located in Callahan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rowden
    • Eula
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Eula is located in Callahan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eula
    • Belle Plain ‑ Historic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Belle Plain is located in Callahan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belle Plain
    • Cross Plains
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Cottonwood
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Cottonwood is located in Callahan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottonwood
    • Clyde
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Clyde is located in Callahan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clyde
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,881 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Clyde <1>
  • Runnels County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Novice, with the one closest to Novice listed first.
    • Winters
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Ballinger
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Wingate
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Norton
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Taylor County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Novice, with the one closest to Novice listed first.
    • Lawn
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Ovalo
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Guion
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Guion is located in Taylor County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Guion
    • Tuscola
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Potosi
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Potosi is located in Taylor County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Potosi
    • Buffalo Gap
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Buffalo Gap is located in Taylor County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buffalo Gap
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 582 people

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

Cemeteries Near Novice ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Novice.

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

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

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

  • Rough Creek Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
  • Rough Creek Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Atoka Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
  • Midway Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Ray Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ray Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Ray Cemetery is located 10 miles [16.1 km]<2> to the northwest of Coleman.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2332327 <3>
  • Silver Valley Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Crews Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crews Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Crews Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located 12 miles [19.3 km]<2> to the east of Winters.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #3114 <3>
  • Mt. View Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Counts Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Herring Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Glen Cove Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • Dewey Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (45 more) ...
    • Talpa Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Tecumseh Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Cope Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)

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.<4>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Novice had a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Novice had a population of 126 people.

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

  • Silver Valley
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Silver Valley is located in Coleman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Valley
  • Glen Cove
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Glen Cove is located in Coleman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Cove
  • Talpa
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
  • Valera
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
  • Coleman
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Guion
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Guion is located in Taylor County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Guion
  • Winters
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
  • Burkett
    (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
  • Buffalo Gap
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Buffalo Gap is located in Taylor County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buffalo Gap
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 582 people
  • Santa Anna
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
  • Ballinger
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Belle Plain ‑ Historic
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Belle Plain is located in Callahan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belle Plain
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Cross Plains
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Cottonwood
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Cottonwood is located in Callahan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottonwood
    • Cross Cut
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Cross Cut is located in Brown County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cross Cut

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

Newspapers Published in Novice ...

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 24 newspapers that have been published in the area around Novice.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Novice, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Novice.

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 Novice:

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>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- Novice) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<4>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 Novice, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.