RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Texas >> Angelina County >> Shawnee Prairie >> Genealogy HelperIndex...

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 Shawnee Prairie (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 Shawnee Prairie. 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 Shawnee Prairie ...

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.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Shawnee Prairie: Shawnee Pr.

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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors 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.

Shawnee Prairie is located in Angelina 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 Angelina County: Cherokee, Houston, Jasper, Nacogdoches, Polk, San Augustine, Trinity & Tyler.

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

  • Angelina County     (The home county of Shawnee Prairie)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Shawnee Prairie, with the one closest to Shawnee Prairie listed first.
    • Manning ‑ Historic
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Manning is located in Angelina County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manning
    • Oak Flat
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Oak Flat is located in Angelina County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Flat
    • Zavalla
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Huntington
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Boynton
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Boynton is located in Angelina County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boynton
    • Bald Hill
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Bald Hill is located in Angelina County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bald Hill
    • Beulah
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • Beulah is located in Angelina County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beulah
    • Nancy
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Nancy is located in Angelina County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nancy
    • Ora
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Ora is located in Angelina County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ora
    • Homer
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Homer is located in Angelina County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homer
    • Dolan
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Dolan is located in Angelina County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dolan
    • Prairie Grove
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Prairie Grove is located in Angelina County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Grove
  • Jasper County
    • Harveytown
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Harveytown is located in Jasper County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harveytown
  • Nacogdoches County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Shawnee Prairie, with the one closest to Shawnee Prairie listed first.
    • Etoile
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Woden
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Chireno
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Attoyac
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Attoyac is located in Nacogdoches County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Attoyac
    • Nacogdoches
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
    • Swift
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Swift is located in Nacogdoches County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swift
  • Polk County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Shawnee Prairie, with the one closest to Shawnee Prairie listed first.
    • Barnum
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Barnum is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barnum
    • Skinner Town
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
      • Skinner Town is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Skinner Town
    • Corrigan
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Barnes
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Barnes is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barnes
    • Camden
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Lily Island
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Lily Island is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lily Island
    • Moscow
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Seven Oaks
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Seven Oaks is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seven Oaks
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 131 people
  • San Augustine County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Shawnee Prairie, with the one closest to Shawnee Prairie listed first.
    • Zana ‑ Historic
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
      • Zana is located in San Augustine County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zana
    • Broaddus
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • White City
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • White City is located in San Augustine County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White City
    • Powell
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Powell is located in San Augustine County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Powell
    • Denning
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Denning is located in San Augustine County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Denning
    • Maxey Town
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Maxey Town is located in San Augustine County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maxey Town
  • Trinity County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Shawnee Prairie, with the one closest to Shawnee Prairie listed first.
    • Apple Springs
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Helmic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Helmic is located in Trinity County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Helmic
    • Centralia
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Woodlake
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Woodlake is located in Trinity County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlake
  • Tyler County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Shawnee Prairie, with the one closest to Shawnee Prairie listed first.
    • Peach Tree Village
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
      • Peach Tree Village is located in Tyler County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peach Tree Village
    • Chester
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Colmesneil
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Doucette
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Woodville
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)

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

Cemeteries Near Shawnee Prairie ...

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

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Shawnee Prairie, with the one closest to Shawnee Prairie 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.<5>

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

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

  • Ora
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Ora is located in Angelina County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ora
  • Homer
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Homer is located in Angelina County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homer
  • Burke
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Burke is located in Angelina County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burke
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 727 people
  • Rockland
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Rockland is located in Tyler County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockland
  • Etoile
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Lufkin
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Lufkin is located in Angelina County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lufkin
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 34,955 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lufkin <1>
  • Barnum
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Barnum is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barnum
  • Chester
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
  • Zana ‑ Historic
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Zana is located in San Augustine County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zana
  • Keltys
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Keltys is located in Angelina County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keltys
  • Corrigan
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Colmesneil
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Clawson
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Clawson is located in Angelina County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clawson
    • Asia
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Asia is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Asia
    • Woden
      (22 miles [35.4 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 Shawnee Prairie. See our List of 1890's Communities around Shawnee Prairie.

Newspapers Published in Shawnee Prairie ...

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 51 newspapers that have been published in the area around Shawnee Prairie.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Shawnee Prairie, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Shawnee Prairie.

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 professional and volunteer 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 Shawnee Prairie:

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>To help visualize the location of the cemetery, we've drawn a straight line between the communities of Diboll and Zavalla. The cemetery can be found near that line and roughly halfway between the two communities. Remember that this is just an approximate location.
<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 from Point A (ie- Shawnee Prairie) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Shawnee Prairie, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.