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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

Although we found mention of Ward during our research, we have little information about it.<1> Given the context of how Ward was mentioned, we believe that it was a community rather than a locale or some type of landmark. We have done a cursory search and if it was a community, we haven't been able to find any evidence that it still exists..

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 Ward (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 Ward. 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 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.

Ward is located in Anderson 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 Anderson County: Cherokee, Freestone, Henderson, Houston & Leon.

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

  • Anderson County     (The home county of Ward)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ward, with the one closest to Ward listed first.
    • Blackfoot
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Blackfoot have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blackfoot
      • Blackfoot is located in Anderson County
    • Bois d'Arc
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bois d'Arc have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bois d'Arc
      • Bois d'Arc is located in Anderson County
    • Montalba
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Montalba have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montalba
      • Montalba is located in Anderson County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Montalba <3>
    • Springfield
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Springfield have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springfield
      • Springfield is located in Anderson County
    • Tennessee Colony
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Bradford
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bradford
      • Bradford is located in Anderson County
    • Bethel
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bethel
      • Bethel is located in Anderson County
    • Massey Lake
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Massey Lake
      • Massey Lake is located in Anderson County
    • Greens Bluff
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Greens Bluff have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greens Bluff
      • Greens Bluff is located in Anderson County
    • Elmtown
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elmtown
      • Elmtown is located in Anderson County
    • Elmwood
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elmwood have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elmwood
      • Elmwood is located in Anderson County
    • Harmony
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Harmony have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harmony
      • Harmony is located in Anderson County
    • Cayuga
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cayuga have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cayuga
      • Cayuga is located in Anderson County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cayuga <3>
  • Cherokee County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ward, with the one closest to Ward listed first.
    • Cuney
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cuney have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cuney
      • Cuney is located in Cherokee County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 140 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cuney <3>
    • Reese
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reese
      • Reese is located in Cherokee County
    • Larissa ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Larissa have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Larissa
      • Larissa is located in Cherokee County
    • Maydelle
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Maydelle have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maydelle
      • Maydelle is located in Cherokee County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Maydelle <3>
  • Freestone County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ward, with the one closest to Ward listed first.
    • Red Lake
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Lake
      • Red Lake is located in Freestone County
    • Turlington
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turlington
      • Turlington is located in Freestone County
    • Oakwood
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oakwood have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakwood
      • Oakwood is located in Freestone County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 514 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Oakwood <3>
    • Winkler
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winkler
      • Winkler is located in Freestone County
    • Fairfield
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Stewards Mill ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stewards Mill have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stewards Mill
      • Stewards Mill is located in Freestone County
    • Lanely
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lanely have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lanely
      • Lanely is located in Freestone County
    • Dew
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dew
      • Dew is located in Freestone County
    • Streetman
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Henderson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ward, with the one closest to Ward listed first.
    • Cross Roads
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cross Roads
      • Cross Roads is located in Henderson County
    • Pine Grove
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Grove
      • Pine Grove is located in Henderson County
    • LaRue
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Poynor
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Poynor have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poynor
      • Poynor is located in Henderson County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 311 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Poynor <3>
    • Athens
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Athens
      • Athens is located in Henderson County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 12,770 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Athens <3>
    • Malakoff
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Malakoff have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Malakoff
      • Malakoff is located in Henderson County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,314 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Malakoff <3>
    • Leagueville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leagueville
      • Leagueville is located in Henderson County
    • Berryville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Berryville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berryville
      • Berryville is located in Henderson County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,066 people
    • Moore Station
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Moore Station have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moore Station
      • Moore Station is located in Henderson County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 223 people
    • Trinidad
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Coffee City
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coffee City
      • Coffee City is located in Henderson County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 299 people
    • Caney City
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Caney City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Caney City
      • Caney City is located in Henderson County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 223 people
    • Star Harbor
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Star Harbor have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Star Harbor
      • Star Harbor is located in Henderson County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 487 people
  • Navarro County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ward, with the one closest to Ward listed first.
    • Goodlow
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodlow
      • Goodlow is located in Navarro County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 197 people
      • Goodlow has also been known as:
      • Goodlow Park
    • Eureka
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Eureka have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eureka
      • Eureka is located in Navarro County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 315 people
    • Kerens
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Smith County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ward, with the one closest to Ward listed first.
    • Dogwood City
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dogwood City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dogwood City
      • Dogwood City is located in Smith County
    • Teaselville
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Teaselville
      • Teaselville is located in Smith County

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

Newspapers Published in Ward ...

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 31 newspapers that have been published in the area around Ward.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Ward, 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 Ward.

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 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 Ward:

Cemeteries Near Ward ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Ward.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Ward, with the one closest to Ward 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.<6>

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

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

  • Blackfoot
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Blackfoot have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blackfoot
    • Blackfoot is located in Anderson County
  • Montalba
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Montalba have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montalba
    • Montalba is located in Anderson County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Montalba <3>
  • Tennessee Colony
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Bradford
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bradford
    • Bradford is located in Anderson County
  • Bethel
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bethel
    • Bethel is located in Anderson County
  • Brushy Creek
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brushy Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brushy Creek
    • Brushy Creek is located in Anderson County
  • Fosterville
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fosterville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fosterville
    • Fosterville is located in Anderson County
  • Palestine
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Wells Creek
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wells Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wells Creek
    • Wells Creek is located in Anderson County
  • Pine Grove
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Grove
    • Pine Grove is located in Henderson County
  • Young
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Young have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Young
    • Young is located in Freestone County
  • Tucker
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tucker
    • Tucker is located in Anderson County
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Long Lake
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Long Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Lake
      • Long Lake is located in Anderson County
    • Butler
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Butler have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Butler
      • Butler is located in Freestone County
    • Neches
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)

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

The official website for Anderson County: www.co.anderson.tx.us/

The official website for State of Texas: https://texas.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer. For example, we might find a sentence like "He went south past Ward and then turned east". While Ward could be some kind of landmark, we think that it's more likely to be a community. We've added Ward as a placeholder with the hope that we'll be able to add more information in the future.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Miller Creek to see Pete ... Miller Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Ward could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.

Just in case there has been confusion between counties, we found that there are two Texas communities named Ward: This one is located in Anderson County and the other is located in Ellis County. For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Ward.
<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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 drawn from Point A (ie- Ward) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Ward. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.9071, Longitude: -95.8047       In this case, the coordinates for Ward have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>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.
<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 Ward, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024