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 Oak Forest (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 Oak Forest. 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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and 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.
Oak Forest is located in Harris 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 Harris County: Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Liberty, Montgomery & Waller.
Below are the counties that are near Oak Forest. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Oak Forest:
- Harris County (The home county of Oak Forest)
- The following are listed by their distance from Oak Forest, with the one closest to Oak Forest listed first.
- Candlelight Oaks Village
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
- Hilshire Village
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
- Hilshire Village is located in Harris County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hilshire Village
- Population from the 2020 Census: 806 people
- Garden City Park
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
- Garden City Park is located in Harris County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden City Park
- Lincoln City
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- Lincoln City is located in Harris County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln City
- Hunters Creek Village
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
- Hunters Creek Village is located in Harris County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunters Creek Village
- Population from the 2020 Census: 4,824 people
- City of Spring Valley Village
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
- Spring Valley
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
- Spring Valley is located in Harris County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Valley
- Aldine
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Hudson
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Hudson is located in Harris County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hudson
- Hedwig Village
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Hedwig Village is located in Harris County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hedwig Village
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,600 people
- Bunker Hill Village
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Bunker Hill Village is located in Harris County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bunker Hill Village
- Population from the 2020 Census: 3,901 people
- Piney Point Village
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Piney Point Village is located in Harris County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piney Point Village
- Population from the 2020 Census: 3,416 people
- Piney Point Village has also been known as:
- Piney Point
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Piney Point Village <1>
- Buckner Haven
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Buckner Haven is located in Harris County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buckner Haven
- Brazoria County
- The following are listed by their distance from Oak Forest, with the one closest to Oak Forest listed first.
- Brookside Village
(18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
- Fairway Village
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
- Fairway Village is located in Brazoria County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairway Village
- Pearland
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
- West Oaks Village
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
- West Oaks Village is located in Brazoria County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Oaks Village
- Westwood Village
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
- Westwood Village is located in Brazoria County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westwood Village
- Woodcreek
(23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
- Woodcreek is located in Brazoria County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodcreek
- Manvel
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
- Iowa Colony
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
- Iowa Colony is located in Brazoria County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iowa Colony
- Population from the 2020 Census: 4,888 people
- Sandy Point
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
- Sandy Point is located in Brazoria County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Point
- Population from the 2020 Census: 238 people
- Alvin
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
- Chambers County
- The following are listed by their distance from Oak Forest, with the one closest to Oak Forest listed first.
- Baytown
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
- Shoreacres
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
- Shoreacres is located in Chambers County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shoreacres
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,578 people
- Fort Bend County
- The following are listed by their distance from Oak Forest, with the one closest to Oak Forest listed first.
- Meadows Place
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
- Meadows Place is located in Fort Bend County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadows Place
- Population from the 2020 Census: 4,813 people
- Meadows
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
- Meadows is located in Fort Bend County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadows
- Mission Bend
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
- Mission Bend is located in Fort Bend County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mission Bend
- Missouri City Estates
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
- Missouri City Estates is located in Fort Bend County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Missouri City Estates
- Stafford
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
- Town West
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
- Town West is located in Fort Bend County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Town West
- Fifth Street
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Fifth Street is located in Fort Bend County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fifth Street
- Clodine
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
- West Oaks Village
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
- West Oaks Village is located in Fort Bend County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Oaks Village
- Missouri City
(18 miles [29 km] to the south)
- Sugar Land
(18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
- Dewalt
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- Dewalt is located in Fort Bend County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dewalt
- Cinco Ranch
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
- Cinco Ranch is located in Fort Bend County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cinco Ranch
- Galveston County
- The following are listed by their distance from Oak Forest, with the one closest to Oak Forest listed first.
- Quaker Village
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
- Quaker Village is located in Galveston County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quaker Village
- Friendswood
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
- Carmel Village
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
- Carmel Village is located in Galveston County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carmel Village
- Parkwood Village
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
- Parkwood Village is located in Galveston County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parkwood Village
- League City
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
- Montgomery County
- The following are listed by their distance from Oak Forest, with the one closest to Oak Forest listed first.
- Oak Ridge North
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
- Chateau Woods
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
- Chateau Woods is located in Montgomery County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chateau Woods
- The Woodlands
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
- Porter
(23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
- Porter Heights
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
- Porter Heights is located in Montgomery County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Porter Heights
- Shenandoah
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
- Sleepy Hollow
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
- Sleepy Hollow is located in Montgomery County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sleepy Hollow
- Woodloch
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
- Woodloch is located in Montgomery County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodloch
- Population from the 2020 Census: 207 people
- New Caney
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
- Stagecoach
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
- Stagecoach is located in Montgomery County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stagecoach
- Population from the 2020 Census: 604 people
- Pinehurst
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
- Roman Forest
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
- Roman Forest is located in Montgomery County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roman Forest
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,035 people
- Woodbranch
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
- Woodbranch is located in Montgomery County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodbranch
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,498 people
- Waller County
- Brookshire
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Oak Forest, see our County-by-County Page for Oak Forest.
Cemeteries Near Oak Forest ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Oak Forest.
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 Oak Forest - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Oak Forest covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Oak Forest, with the one closest to Oak Forest listed first.
- Beth El Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
- Woodlawn Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
- Restlawn Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
- Cemetery Beautiful
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cemetery Beautiful
- The Cemetery Beautiful has also been known as:
- Beautiful Cemetery
- Paradise Beautiful Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2834 <2>
- Adath Emeth Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Adath Israel Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Paradise North Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
- College Memorial Park
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Adath Yeshurun Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Magnolia Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Washington Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Washington Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Washington Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located in Houston.
- The Washington Cemetery has also been known as:
- Deutsche Gesellschaft Friedof
- German Society Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #7491 <2>
- Glenwood Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenwood Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Glenwood Cemetery is a very large cemetery that is located in Houston.
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #3828 <2>
- Continue List (137 more) ...
- Olivewood Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Olivewood Cemetery
- The Olivewood Cemetery has also been known as:
- Hollow Wood Cemetery
- Hollywood Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2136702 <2>
- Holy Cross Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Hollywood Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
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>
While we didn't find Oak Forest in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Oak Forest.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Oak Forest, with the one closest to Oak Forest listed first.
- Aldine
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Piney Point Village
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Piney Point Village is located in Harris County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piney Point Village
- Population from the 2020 Census: 3,416 people
- Piney Point Village has also been known as:
- Piney Point
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Piney Point Village <1>
- Houston
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Jeanetta
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- Jeanetta is located in Harris County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jeanetta
- Addicks
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
- Addicks is located in Harris County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Addicks
- Pierce Junction
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
- Pierce Junction is located in Harris County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pierce Junction
- Magnolia Park
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
- Magnolia Park is located in Harris County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magnolia Park
- Harrisburg
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
- Harrisburg is located in Harris County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harrisburg
- Stafford
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
- Westfield
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
- Westfield is located in Harris County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westfield
- Clodine
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
- Humble
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
- Continue List (13 more) ...
- Spring
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
- Cypress
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
- Sugar Land
(18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Oak Forest. See our List of 1890's Communities around Oak Forest.
Newspapers Published in Oak Forest ...
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 248 newspapers that have been published in the area around Oak Forest.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Oak Forest, there are papers which were published within 7 miles [11.3 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Oak Forest.
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 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 Oak Forest:
- Websites specific to Texas
- Pages specific to Harris County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Brazoria County
- Chambers County
- Fort Bend County
- Galveston County
- Montgomery County
- Waller County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Texas
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 Oak Forest, 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' (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- Oak Forest) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |