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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 Walnut Springs (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 Walnut Springs. 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 Walnut Springs ...

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 Walnut Springs: Walnut Spgs. (or less commonly used: Walnut Spngs. or Walnut Sprngs.)

You might be interested in other communities that are also named Walnut Springs. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Walnut Springs.

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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and 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.

Walnut Springs is located in Bosque 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 Bosque County: Coryell, Erath, Hamilton, Hill, Johnson, McLennan & Somervell.

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

  • Bosque County     (The home county of Walnut Springs)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Walnut Springs, with the one closest to Walnut Springs listed first.
    • Morgan
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Iredell
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Eulogy
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Eulogy is located in Bosque County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eulogy
    • Meridian
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Kopperl
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Kimball
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • Kimball is located in Bosque County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kimball
    • Lakeside Village
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • Lakeside Village is located in Bosque County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeside Village
    • Cranfills Gap
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Norse
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Norse is located in Bosque County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Norse
    • Clifton
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Womack
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Womack is located in Bosque County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Womack
    • Laguna Park
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Cayote
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Cayote is located in Bosque County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cayote
  • Coryell County
    • Turnersville
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Turnersville is located in Coryell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turnersville
  • Erath County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Walnut Springs, with the one closest to Walnut Springs listed first.
    • Chalk Mountain
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Chalk Mountain is located in Erath County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chalk Mountain
    • Duffau
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Duffau is located in Erath County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duffau
    • Clairette
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Clairette is located in Erath County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clairette
    • Bluff Dale
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Alexander
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Alexander is located in Erath County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alexander
    • Stephenville
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Harbin
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Harbin is located in Erath County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harbin
  • Hamilton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Walnut Springs, with the one closest to Walnut Springs listed first.
    • Hico
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Hico is located in Hamilton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hico
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,437 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hico <1>
    • Agee ‑ Historic
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Agee is located in Hamilton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Agee
    • Lanham
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Lanham is located in Hamilton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lanham
    • Carlton
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Spurlin ‑ Historic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Spurlin is located in Hamilton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spurlin
  • Hill County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Walnut Springs, with the one closest to Walnut Springs listed first.
    • Blum
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Huron ‑ Historic
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Huron is located in Hill County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huron
    • Whitney
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Covington
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
  • Hood County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Walnut Springs, with the one closest to Walnut Springs listed first.
    • Paluxy
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Hill City
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Hill City is located in Hood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hill City
    • Fort Spunky
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Fort Spunky is located in Hood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Spunky
    • Pecan Plantation
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Pecan Plantation is located in Hood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pecan Plantation
    • Tolar
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • DeCordova
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • DeCordova is located in Hood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for DeCordova
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,108 people
    • Granbury
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Acton
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Brazos Bend
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Brazos Bend is located in Hood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brazos Bend
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 364 people
    • Oak Trail Shores
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Oak Trail Shores is located in Hood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Trail Shores
  • Johnson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Walnut Springs, with the one closest to Walnut Springs listed first.
    • Bono
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Bono is located in Johnson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bono
    • Rio Vista
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Cleburne
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Godley
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Parker
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Parker is located in Johnson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parker
  • Somervell County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Walnut Springs, with the one closest to Walnut Springs listed first.
    • Glass
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Glass is located in Somervell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glass
    • Glen Rose
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Rainbow
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Nemo
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)

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

Cemeteries Near Walnut Springs ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Walnut Springs.

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 Walnut Springs - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Oak Grove Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
  • Fulton Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Russell Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Barry Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Hill Creek Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Davis Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Glass Family Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • New Iredell Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Ward Branch Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Morgan Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Flanary Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Brazos Point Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (121 more) ...
    • Nancy Smith Cemetery
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Lanham Mill Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Baker Lain Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)

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 in 1895, Walnut Springs had railroad service and no post office. In 2020, Walnut Springs had a population of 877 people.

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

  • Iredell
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Morgan
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Eulogy
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Eulogy is located in Bosque County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eulogy
  • Meridian
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Brazos Point
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Brazos Point is located in Bosque County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brazos Point
  • Chalk Mountain
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Chalk Mountain is located in Erath County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chalk Mountain
  • Glen Rose
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
  • Kopperl
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
  • Freeland
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Freeland is located in Johnson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freeland
  • Kimball
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Kimball is located in Bosque County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kimball
  • Duffau
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Duffau is located in Erath County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duffau
  • Hico
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Hico is located in Hamilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hico
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,437 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hico <1>
  • Continue List   (17 more) ...
    • Paluxy
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Georges Creek
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Georges Creek is located in Somervell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Georges Creek
    • Fairy
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Fairy is located in Hamilton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairy

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Walnut Springs ...

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 42 newspapers that have been published in the area around Walnut Springs.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Walnut Springs. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Walnut Springs and those printed in the larger area surrounding Walnut Springs.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4> of Walnut Springs.

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 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 Walnut Springs:

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 Walnut Springs, 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' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Walnut Springs) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.