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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 Ola (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 Ola. 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.

Ola is located in Kaufman 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 Kaufman County: Dallas, Ellis, Henderson, Hunt, Rockwall & Van Zandt.

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

  • Kaufman County     (The home county of Ola)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ola, with the one closest to Ola listed first.
    • Abner
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Oak Ridge
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Oak Ridge is located in Kaufman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Ridge
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 806 people
    • College Mound
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • College Mound is located in Kaufman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for College Mound
    • Becker
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Prairieville
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Kaufman
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Oak Grove
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Oak Grove is located in Kaufman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 704 people
    • Post Oak Bend City
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
      • 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
    • Kemp
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Elmo
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Lone Star
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Lone Star is located in Kaufman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lone Star
    • Grays Prairie
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Grays Prairie is located in Kaufman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grays Prairie
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 388 people
    • Scurry
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Collin County
  • Dallas County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ola, with the one closest to Ola listed first.
    • Combine
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Seagoville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Lawson
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Sunnyvale
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Kleberg
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Mesquite
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Balch Springs
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Ferris
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • New Hope
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • New Hope is located in Dallas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Hope
    • Wilmer
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
  • Ellis County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ola, with the one closest to Ola listed first.
    • Walnut Springs
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
      • Walnut Springs is located in Ellis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Springs
    • Telico
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Bristol
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Crisp
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Alma
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Alma is located in Ellis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alma
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 400 people
    • Palmer
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Henderson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ola, with the one closest to Ola listed first.
    • Gun Barrel City
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Seven Points
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Payne Springs
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Payne Springs is located in Henderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Payne Springs
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 756 people
    • Tool
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Tool is located in Henderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tool
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,335 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Tool <1>
    • Eustace
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Enchanted Oaks
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Enchanted Oaks is located in Henderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Enchanted Oaks
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 343 people
    • Log Cabin
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Log Cabin is located in Henderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Log Cabin
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 785 people
    • Caney City
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Caney City is located in Henderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Caney City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 223 people
    • Star Harbor
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Star Harbor is located in Henderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Star Harbor
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 487 people
    • Malakoff
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Trinidad
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Hunt County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ola, with the one closest to Ola listed first.
    • Hawk Cove
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Hawk Cove is located in Hunt County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hawk Cove
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 562 people
    • Quinlan
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Union Valley
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Union Valley is located in Hunt County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Valley
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 461 people
    • West Tawakoni
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • West Tawakoni is located in Hunt County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Tawakoni
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,994 people
    • Boles Home
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
  • Navarro County
  • Rains County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ola, with the one closest to Ola listed first.
    • Flats
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • East Tawakoni
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • East Tawakoni is located in Rains County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Tawakoni
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 991 people
    • Hooker Ridge
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Point
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Rockwall County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ola, with the one closest to Ola listed first.
    • McLendon - Chisholm
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • McLendon - Chisholm is located in Rockwall County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McLendon - Chisholm
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,815 people
    • Blackland
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Mobile City
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Fate
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Rockwall
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Van Zandt County

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

Cemeteries Near Ola ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Ola.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Ola, with the one closest to Ola 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.<4>

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

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

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

Newspapers Published in Ola ...

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 62 newspapers that have been published in the area around Ola.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Ola, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Ola.

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 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 Ola:

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