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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 Prairie Dell (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 Prairie Dell. 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.

Prairie Dell is located in Bell 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 Bell County: Burnet, Coryell, Falls, Lampasas, McLennan, Milam & Williamson.

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

  • Bell County     (The home county of Prairie Dell)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Prairie Dell, with the one closest to Prairie Dell listed first.
    • Salado
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Holland
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Bartlett
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Harker Heights
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Sparks
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
      • Sparks is located in Bell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sparks
    • Nolanville
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Belton
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Ding Dong
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Ding Dong is located in Bell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ding Dong
    • Little River
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Academy
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Academy is located in Bell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Academy
    • Little River Academy
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Little River Academy is located in Bell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little River Academy
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,048 people
    • Maxdale ‑ Historic
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Maxdale is located in Bell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maxdale
  • Burnet County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Prairie Dell, with the one closest to Prairie Dell listed first.
    • Briggs
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Bertram
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
  • Coryell County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Prairie Dell, with the one closest to Prairie Dell listed first.
    • Montague Village
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Montague Village is located in Coryell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montague Village
    • Comanche Village I
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Comanche Village I is located in Coryell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Comanche Village I
    • Comanche Village II
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Comanche Village II is located in Coryell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Comanche Village II
    • Comanche Village III
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Comanche Village III is located in Coryell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Comanche Village III
    • Mason Crossing ‑ Historic
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Mason Crossing is located in Coryell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mason Crossing
    • Saint Elijah Village
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Saint Elijah Village is located in Coryell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Elijah Village
    • The Grove
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • The Grove is located in Coryell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for The Grove
    • Flat
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
  • Falls County
    • Barclay
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Barclay is located in Falls County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barclay
  • Lampasas County
    • Kempner
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Milam County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Prairie Dell, with the one closest to Prairie Dell listed first.
    • Davilla
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Val Verde
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
      • Val Verde is located in Milam County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Val Verde
    • Buckholts
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Thorndale
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Tracy
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Tracy is located in Milam County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tracy
  • Travis County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Prairie Dell, with the one closest to Prairie Dell listed first.
    • Pflugerville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Windemere
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Windemere is located in Travis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Windemere
    • Cele
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Cele is located in Travis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cele
    • Three Points
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Three Points is located in Travis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Three Points
    • Wells Branch
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Wells Branch is located in Travis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wells Branch
  • Williamson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Prairie Dell, with the one closest to Prairie Dell listed first.
    • Jarrell
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Schwertner
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Walburg
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Florence
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Weir
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Weir is located in Williamson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weir
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 549 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Weir <1>
    • Granger
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Serenada
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Serenada is located in Williamson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Serenada
    • Sun City
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Sun City is located in Williamson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sun City
    • Georgetown
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Andice
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Friendship ‑ Historic
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Friendship is located in Williamson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friendship
    • Hoxie
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Hoxie is located in Williamson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hoxie

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

Cemeteries Near Prairie Dell ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Prairie Dell.

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 Prairie Dell - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Land Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Salado Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Corn Hill Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Goodeville Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Stockton Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Bell Plains Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Roucker Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Dallas Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Farmer Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • St. Peter Lutheran Church Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • Proctor Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Burris Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (191 more) ...
    • Salyer - Millard Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Denison Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Bartlett City Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bartlett City Cemetery
      • The Bartlett City Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Bartlett Cemetery

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 Prairie Dell in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Prairie Dell.

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

  • Corn Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Corn Hill is located in Williamson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Corn Hill
  • Salado
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Theon
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Theon is located in Williamson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Theon
  • Youngsport
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Youngsport is located in Bell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Youngsport
  • Walburg
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Bartlett
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Holland
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • Florence
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Belton
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Nolanville
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
  • Granger
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Little River
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Donahoe
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • Donahoe is located in Bell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Donahoe
    • Vilas
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Vilas is located in Bell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vilas
    • Maxdale ‑ Historic
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Maxdale is located in Bell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maxdale

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

Newspapers Published in Prairie Dell ...

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 77 newspapers that have been published in the area around Prairie Dell.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Prairie Dell, 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 Prairie Dell.

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 either 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 Prairie Dell:

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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Prairie Dell) 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 Prairie Dell, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.