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 Rolla (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 Rolla. 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 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.
Rolla is located in Collingsworth 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 Collingsworth County: Beckham (OK), Harmon (OK), Childress, Donley, Hall & Wheeler.
Below are the counties that are near Rolla. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Rolla:
- Collingsworth County (The home county of Rolla)
- The following are listed by their distance from Rolla, with the one closest to Rolla listed first.
- Wellington
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Quail
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
- Dodson
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
- Samnorwood
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
- Childress County
- The following are listed by their distance from Rolla, with the one closest to Rolla listed first.
- Loco ‑ Historic
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
- Loco is located in Childress County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loco
- Arlie
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
- Arlie is located in Childress County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arlie
- Carey
(23 miles [37 km] to the south)
- Childress
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
- Tell
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
- Donley County
- The following are listed by their distance from Rolla, with the one closest to Rolla listed first.
- Hedley
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
- Lelia Lake
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- Hall County
- The following are listed by their distance from Rolla, with the one closest to Rolla listed first.
- Memphis
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
- Newlin
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
- Newlin is located in Hall County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newlin
- Estelline
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- Hulver
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
- Hulver is located in Hall County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hulver
- Lakeview
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
- Lakeview is located in Hall County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview
- Population from the 2020 Census: 94 people
- Wheeler County
- Shamrock
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
- Harmon County (OK)
- The following are listed by their distance from Rolla, with the one closest to Rolla listed first.
- Sandy
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
- Sandy is located in Harmon County (OK)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy
- Arnett
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
- Arnett is located in Harmon County (OK)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arnett
- Hollis
(23 miles [37 km] to the east)
- Vinson
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Rolla, see our County-by-County Page for Rolla.
Cemeteries Near Rolla ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Rolla.
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 Rolla - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Rolla covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Rolla, with the one closest to Rolla listed first.
- Rolla Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the south)
- North Fairview Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- South Fairview Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Fairview Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the South Fairview Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the southwest of Wellington.
- The South Fairview Cemetery has also been known as:
- Fairview Cemetery
- Wellington Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #3521 <3>
- Memorial Gardens Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Old Wellington Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- Quail Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quail Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Quail Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located 11 miles [17.7 km]<2> to the northwest of Wellington.
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #6220 <3>
- Loco Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loco Cemetery
- The Loco Cemetery has also been known as:
- Buck Creek Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #926163 <3>
- Arlie Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
- Plymouth Cemetery
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- Newlin Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
- Dodson Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dodson Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Dodson Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located less than 2 miles<2> to the northeast of Dodson.
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #3261 <3>
- Dozier Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
- Continue List (22 more) ...
- Olympus - Lonie Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
- Bitter Creek Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
- Estelline Cemetery
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
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 Rolla in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Rolla.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Rolla, with the one closest to Rolla listed first.
- Wellington
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Fresno
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
- Fresno is located in Collingsworth County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fresno
- Arlie
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
- Arlie is located in Childress County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arlie
- Memphis
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
- Giles
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
- Giles is located in Donley County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Giles
- Newlin
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
- Newlin is located in Hall County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newlin
- Aberdeen
(18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
- Aberdeen is located in Collingsworth County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aberdeen
- Hulver
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
- Hulver is located in Hall County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hulver
- Lakeview
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
- Lakeview is located in Hall County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview
- Population from the 2020 Census: 94 people
- Carey
(23 miles [37 km] to the south)
- Childress
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Rolla. See our List of 1890's Communities around Rolla.
Newspapers Published in Rolla ...
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 32 newspapers that have been published in the area around Rolla.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Rolla, there are papers which were published within 26 miles [41.8 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Rolla.
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 Rolla:
- Websites specific to Texas
- Pages specific to Collingsworth County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Childress County
- Donley County
- Hall County
- Wheeler County
- Harmon 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> | 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- Rolla) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <3> | 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. |
| <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 Rolla, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |