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The Commemorative Quarter for Texas





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 Rayland (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 Rayland. 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.

Rayland is located in Foard County.

To see how the shape of Texas' counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Foard County: Baylor, Cottle, Hardeman, King, Knox & Wilbarger.

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

  • Foard County     (The home county of Rayland)
  • Hardeman County
  • Knox County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rayland, with the one closest to Rayland listed first.
    • Gilliland
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Vera
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Wilbarger County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rayland, with the one closest to Rayland listed first.
    • Lockett
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Tolbert ‑ Historic
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Tolbert. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tolbert
      • Tolbert is located in Wilbarger County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Tolbert
      • From Rayland to Tolbert
    • Vernon
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • White City
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for White City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White City
      • White City is located in Wilbarger County
    • Oklaunion
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Odell
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Odell have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Odell
      • Odell is located in Wilbarger County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Odell <1>
    • Fargo
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Elliott
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Harrold
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Harrold have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harrold
      • Harrold is located in Wilbarger County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Harrold <1>
  • Jackson County (OK)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rayland, with the one closest to Rayland listed first.
    • Eldorado
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Elmer
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elmer have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elmer
      • Elmer is located in Jackson County (OK)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 88 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elmer <1>
    • Hess
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Hess. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hess
      • Hess is located in Jackson County (OK)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Hess
      • From Rayland to Hess
  • Tillman County (OK)
    • Davidson
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Davidson have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Davidson
      • Davidson is located in Tillman County (OK)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 289 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Davidson <1>

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

Cemeteries Near Rayland ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Rayland.

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.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Rayland, with the one closest to Rayland 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.<6>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Rayland had a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Thalia
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Tolbert ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Tolbert. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tolbert
    • Tolbert is located in Wilbarger County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Tolbert
    • From Rayland to Tolbert
  • Vernon
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Chillicothe
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
  • Crowell
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
  • Oklaunion
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
  • Quanah
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Doans
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Doans have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Doans
    • Doans is located in Wilbarger County
  • Harrold
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Harrold have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harrold
    • Harrold is located in Wilbarger County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Harrold <1>
  • Vivian
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Vivian have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vivian
    • Vivian is located in Foard County
  • Truscott
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Truscott have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Truscott
    • Truscott is located in Knox County
  • Eldorado
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)

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

Newspapers Published in Rayland ...

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 39 newspapers that have been published in the area around Rayland.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Rayland, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Rayland.

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 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 Rayland:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Rayland. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for State of Texas: https://texas.gov/

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 location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<3>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<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 drawn from Point A (ie- Rayland) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Rayland. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.0643, Longitude: -99.4813    
<5>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.
<6>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 Rayland, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025