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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 Surfside (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 Surfside. 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 and hospitals 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.

Surfside is located in Brazoria 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 Brazoria County: Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Matagorda & Wharton.

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

  • Brazoria County     (The home county of Surfside)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Surfside, with the one closest to Surfside listed first.
    • Quintana
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Surfside Beach
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Surfside Beach have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Surfside Beach
      • Surfside Beach is located in Brazoria County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 589 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Surfside Beach <1>
    • Freeport
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Freeport have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freeport
      • Freeport is located in Brazoria County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 12,126 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Freeport <1>
    • Velasco
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Velasco. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Velasco
      • Velasco is located in Brazoria County
    • Oyster Creek
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oyster Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oyster Creek
      • Oyster Creek is located in Brazoria County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,212 people
    • Clute
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clute have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clute
      • Clute is located in Brazoria County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 11,724 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Clute <1>
    • Jones Creek
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Richwood
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Richwood have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richwood
      • Richwood is located in Brazoria County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,015 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Richwood <1>
    • Lake Jackson
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lake Jackson have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Jackson
      • Lake Jackson is located in Brazoria County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 27,063 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lake Jackson <1>
    • Bastrop Beach
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bastrop Beach
      • Bastrop Beach is located in Brazoria County
    • San Luis ‑ Historic
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for San Luis. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Luis
      • San Luis is located in Brazoria County
    • Angleton
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Angleton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Angleton
      • Angleton is located in Brazoria County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 19,521 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Angleton <1>
    • Brazoria
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
  • Galveston County
    • Jamaica Beach
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Jamaica Beach have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jamaica Beach
      • Jamaica Beach is located in Galveston County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,076 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Jamaica Beach <1>
  • Matagorda County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Surfside, with the one closest to Surfside listed first.
    • Sargent
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Cedar Lane
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cedar Lane have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Lane
      • Cedar Lane is located in Matagorda County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cedar Lane <1>

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

Cemeteries Near Surfside ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Surfside.

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 Surfside covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Surfside, with the one closest to Surfside listed first.

  • Quintana Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Hudgens Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hudgens Cemetery
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Hudgens Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #4399 <4>
  • Velasco Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Gulf Coast Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Phair Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Restwood Memorial Park
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Oakland Community Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Ducroz Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ducroz Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ducroz Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #3299 <4>
  • Gulf Prairie Presbyterian Church Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Mt. Zion Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Galilee MB Church Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Galilee MB Church Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Galilee MB Church Cemetery is located 5 miles [8 km]<5> to the north of Brazoria.
    • The Galilee MB Church Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Galilee Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2156979 <4>
  • Angleton Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (34 more) ...
    • Burrel Chapel Cemetery
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Burrel Chapel Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Burrel Chapel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2672 <4>
    • Old Brazoria Cemetery
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Pioneer Cemetery
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)

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>

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

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

  • Quintana
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Velasco
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Velasco. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Velasco
    • Velasco is located in Brazoria County
  • Oyster Creek
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oyster Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oyster Creek
    • Oyster Creek is located in Brazoria County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,212 people
  • Hinkles Ferry
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hinkles Ferry have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hinkles Ferry
    • Hinkles Ferry is located in Brazoria County
  • Brazoria
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
  • Chenango
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chenango have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chenango
    • Chenango is located in Brazoria County
  • Liverpool
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
  • Bonney
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Bonney. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bonney
    • Bonney is located in Brazoria County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 380 people

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

Newspapers Published in Surfside ...

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 33 newspapers that have been published in the area around Surfside.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Surfside, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Surfside.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These 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 Surfside:

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

The official website for Brazoria County: www.brazoria-county.com/

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>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>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- Surfside) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Surfside. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 28.9433, Longitude: -95.2977       In this case, the coordinates for Surfside have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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 Surfside, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025