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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 Stafford (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 Stafford. 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 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.

Stafford is primarily located in Fort Bend County. A portion of Stafford extends into Harris 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 Fort Bend County: Austin, Brazoria, Harris, Waller & Wharton.

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

  • Fort Bend County     (The home county of Stafford)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Stafford, with the one closest to Stafford listed first.
    • Missouri City Estates
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Missouri City Estates is located in Fort Bend County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Missouri City Estates
    • Fifth Street
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • Fifth Street is located in Fort Bend County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fifth Street
    • Meadows Place
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Meadows Place is located in Fort Bend County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadows Place
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,813 people
    • Meadows
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Meadows is located in Fort Bend County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadows
    • Missouri City
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Dewalt
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • First Colony
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • First Colony is located in Fort Bend County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for First Colony
    • Sugar Land
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Town West
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Town West is located in Fort Bend County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Town West
    • Trammels
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Mission Bend
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Mission Bend is located in Fort Bend County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mission Bend
    • New Territory
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • New Territory is located in Fort Bend County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Territory
  • Austin County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Stafford, with the one closest to Stafford listed first.
    • Brazos Country
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Brazos Country is located in Austin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brazos Country
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 472 people
    • Wallis
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Brazoria County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Stafford, with the one closest to Stafford listed first.
    • Fairway Village
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Fairway Village is located in Brazoria County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairway Village
    • Iowa Colony
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Iowa Colony is located in Brazoria County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iowa Colony
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,888 people
    • Brookside Village
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • West Oaks Village
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
      • West Oaks Village is located in Brazoria County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Oaks Village
    • Manvel
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Manvel is located in Brazoria County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manvel
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 13,867 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Manvel <1>
    • Pearland
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Westwood Village
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Westwood Village is located in Brazoria County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westwood Village
    • Sandy Point
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Lochridge
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Woodcreek
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Rosharon
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Bonney
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
  • Galveston County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Stafford, with the one closest to Stafford listed first.
    • Friendswood
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Quaker Village
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Quaker Village is located in Galveston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quaker Village
    • Carmel Village
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Carmel Village is located in Galveston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carmel Village
    • Parkwood Village
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Parkwood Village is located in Galveston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parkwood Village
    • League City
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Arcadia
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Harris County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Stafford, with the one closest to Stafford listed first.
    • Cambridge Village
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Cambridge Village is located in Harris County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cambridge Village
    • Post Oak Village
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Post Oak Village is located in Harris County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Post Oak Village
    • Alief
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Brays Village East
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Brays Village East is located in Harris County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brays Village East
    • Catalina Village
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Catalina Village is located in Harris County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Catalina Village
    • Bellaire
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Ashford Village
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Ashford Village is located in Harris County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ashford Village
    • Westpark Village
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Westpark Village is located in Harris County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westpark Village
    • Canterbury Village
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
      • Canterbury Village is located in Harris County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canterbury Village
    • Southside Place
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Buckner Haven
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Bunker Hill Village
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
      • Bunker Hill Village is located in Harris County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bunker Hill Village
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,901 people
  • Waller County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Stafford, with the one closest to Stafford listed first.
    • Brookshire
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Pattison
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Stafford ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Stafford.

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 Stafford - one of the links might be able to help.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Stafford, with the one closest to Stafford 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.<3>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Stafford had a population of 57 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Stafford had a population of 17,052 people.

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

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Stafford ...

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 3 newspapers that have been published in the area around Stafford.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Stafford. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Stafford and those printed in the larger area surrounding Stafford.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 4 miles [6.4 km]<4> of Stafford.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we 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 Stafford:

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>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 Stafford, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Stafford) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.