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The Commemorative Quarter for Texas





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 Vivian (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 Vivian. 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 hospitals 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.

Vivian is located in Foard 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 Foard County: Baylor, Cottle, Hardeman, King, Knox & Wilbarger.

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

  • Foard County     (The home county of Vivian)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Vivian, with the one closest to Vivian listed first.
    • Crowell
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Foard City
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foard City
      • Foard City is located in Foard County
    • Margaret
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Margaret
      • Margaret is located in Foard County
    • Thalia
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thalia
      • Thalia is located in Foard County
    • Rayland
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rayland
      • Rayland is located in Foard County
  • Childress County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Vivian, with the one closest to Vivian listed first.
    • Kirkland
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Childress
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Cottle County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Vivian, with the one closest to Vivian listed first.
    • Baker
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Baker. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baker
      • Baker is located in Cottle County
    • Chalk
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Paducah
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Paducah have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paducah
      • Paducah is located in Cottle County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,064 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Paducah <1>
  • Hardeman County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Vivian, with the one closest to Vivian listed first.
    • Goodlett
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Quanah
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Medicine Mound ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Medicine Mound have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Medicine Mound
      • Medicine Mound is located in Hardeman County
    • Chillicothe
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Knox County
    • Gilliland
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gilliland
      • Gilliland is located in Knox County

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

Cemeteries Near Vivian ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Vivian.

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

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

  • Crowell Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Tennessee Valley Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
  • Margaret Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
  • Goodlett Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Goodlett Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Goodlett Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Memorial Park
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Memorial Park
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Thalia Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Thalia Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Thalia Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Garden of Memories
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Garden of Memories
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Garden of Memories have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Shinnery Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Shinnery Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Shinnery Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Truscott Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Truscott Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Truscott Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Big Valley Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Big Valley Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Big Valley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Dunlap Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
  • Kirkland Cemetery
    (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (9 more) ...
    • Scott Cemetery
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Scott Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Scott Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Buck Creek Cemetery
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Chillicothe Cemetery
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Chillicothe Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Chillicothe Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Vivian had a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Crowell
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
  • Quanah
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
  • Truscott
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Truscott have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Truscott
    • Truscott is located in Knox County
  • Paducah
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Paducah have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paducah
    • Paducah is located in Cottle County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,064 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Paducah <1>
  • Thalia
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thalia
    • Thalia is located in Foard County
  • Kirkland
    (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
  • Rayland
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rayland
    • Rayland is located in Foard County
  • Chillicothe
    (27 miles [43.5 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 Vivian. See our List of 1890's Communities around Vivian.

Newspapers Published in Vivian ...

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 35 newspapers that have been published in the area around Vivian.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Vivian, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Vivian.

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 Vivian:

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

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>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.
<3>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.
<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 Vivian, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>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- Vivian) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Vivian. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.0512, Longitude: -99.9262       In this case, the coordinates for Vivian have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025