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 Richards (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 Richards. 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.
Name Variations for Richards ...
When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.
While the name of this community is Richards, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Richards may originally have been Richard's.
You might be interested in other communities that are also named Richards. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Richards.
If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.
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 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.
Richards is located in Grimes 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 Grimes County: Brazos, Madison, Montgomery, Walker, Waller & Washington.
Below are the counties that are near Richards. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Richards:
- Grimes County (The home county of Richards)
- The following are listed by their distance from Richards, with the one closest to Richards listed first.
- Shiro
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Apolonia
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Apolonia is located in Grimes County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Apolonia
- Roans Prairie
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
- Anderson
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
- Plantersville
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Stoneham
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Stoneham is located in Grimes County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stoneham
- Bedias
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
- Todd Mission
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- Todd Mission is located in Grimes County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Todd Mission
- Population from the 2020 Census: 112 people
- Iola
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Brazos County
- The following are listed by their distance from Richards, with the one closest to Richards listed first.
- Navasota
(18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
- Millican
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
- Allen Farm
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
- Allen Farm is located in Brazos County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Allen Farm
- Wellborn
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
- Kurten
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
- Boonville
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
- Boonville is located in Brazos County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boonville
- College Station
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
- Madison County
- The following are listed by their distance from Richards, with the one closest to Richards listed first.
- Madisonville
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
- Zulch ‑ Historic
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
- Zulch is located in Madison County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zulch
- North Zulch
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
- Montgomery County
- The following are listed by their distance from Richards, with the one closest to Richards listed first.
- Dacus
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
- Dacus is located in Montgomery County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dacus
- Dobbin
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Montgomery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
- Danville ‑ Historic
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
- Danville is located in Montgomery County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Danville
- Karen
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
- Karen is located in Montgomery County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Karen
- Willis
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
- Magnolia
(23 miles [37 km] to the south)
- Panorama Village
(23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
- Panorama Village is located in Montgomery County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Panorama Village
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,446 people
- Pinehurst
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
- Conroe
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
- Stagecoach
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
- Stagecoach is located in Montgomery County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stagecoach
- Population from the 2020 Census: 604 people
- Walker County
- The following are listed by their distance from Richards, with the one closest to Richards listed first.
- Goshen ‑ Historic
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
- Goshen is located in Walker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goshen
- Wesley Grove
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
- Wesley Grove is located in Walker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wesley Grove
- Elmina
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
- Elmina is located in Walker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elmina
- New Waverly
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
- Huntsville
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
- Barado
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
- Barado is located in Walker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barado
- Dodge
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
- Waller County
- Fields Store
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
- Fields Store is located in Waller County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fields Store
- Washington County
- The following are listed by their distance from Richards, with the one closest to Richards listed first.
- Washington ‑ Historic
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
- Graball ‑ Historic
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
- Graball is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Graball
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Richards, see our County-by-County Page for Richards.
Cemeteries Near Richards ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Richards.
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 Richards - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Richards covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Richards, with the one closest to Richards listed first.
- Fairview Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
- Longstreet Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
- David Chapel Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
- Pine Grove Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
- Bays Chapel Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- Mason Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Red Top Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Top Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Red Top Cemetery is located less than 2 miles<3> to the northeast of Shiro.
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #6281 <4>
- Waller Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Union Grove Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- Shiro Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
- Roans Prairie Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
- Oakland Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Continue List (145 more) ...
- Bethel Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Farris Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- Lee Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
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.<5>
While we didn't find Richards in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Richards.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Richards, with the one closest to Richards listed first.
- Apolonia
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Apolonia is located in Grimes County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Apolonia
- Dacus
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
- Dacus is located in Montgomery County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dacus
- Roans Prairie
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
- Anderson
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
- Montgomery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
- Bath
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
- Bath is located in Walker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bath
- Stoneham
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Stoneham is located in Grimes County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stoneham
- Plantersville
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Yarboro
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
- Yarboro is located in Grimes County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yarboro
- Bedias
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
- Keith
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
- Keith is located in Grimes County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keith
- Navasota
(18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
- Continue List (15 more) ...
- Whitehall
(18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
- Whitehall is located in Grimes County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whitehall
- New Waverly
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
- Huntsville
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Richards. See our List of 1890's Communities around Richards.
Newspapers Published in Richards ...
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 61 newspapers that have been published in the area around Richards.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Richards, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Richards.
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 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 Richards:
- Websites specific to Texas
- Pages specific to Grimes County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Brazos County
- Madison County
- Montgomery County
- Walker County
- Waller County
- Washington County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Texas
Footnotes ...
| <1> | It's generally believed that possessive apostrophes are removed to prevent confusion on maps where the apostrophe may be confused with a cartographic symbol. While this is generally true, it's not uncommon to find possessive apostrophes in administrative names (such as towns or counties). |
| <2> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <3> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Richards) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <4> | 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. |
| <5> | 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 Richards, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |