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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 Wells Creek (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 Wells Creek. 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 Wells Creek ...

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.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might have occurred.

  • A typical abbreviation for Wells Creek: Wells Crk. (or less commonly used: Wells Ck. or Wells Cr.)
  • While the name of this community is Wells Creek, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Wells Creek may originally have been Well's Creek.

    Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Wells Creek might be written as Well Creek.

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 southeast 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 south.

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 south 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.

Wells Creek 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 Wells Creek. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Wells Creek:

  • Anderson County     (The home county of Wells Creek)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wells Creek, with the one closest to Wells Creek listed first.
    • Mound Prairie
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mound Prairie have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mound Prairie
      • Mound Prairie is located in Anderson County
    • Deanwright
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Deanwright have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deanwright
      • Deanwright is located in Anderson County
    • Palestine
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Crystal Lake
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Crystal Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crystal Lake
      • Crystal Lake is located in Anderson County
    • Kossuth
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kossuth have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kossuth
      • Kossuth is located in Anderson County
    • Neches
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Elmtown
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elmtown
      • Elmtown is located in Anderson County
    • Pert
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pert have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pert
      • Pert is located in Anderson County
    • Elmwood
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • 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
    • Jarvis
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jarvis
      • Jarvis is located in Anderson County
    • Todd City
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Todd City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Todd City
      • Todd City is located in Anderson County
    • Alderbranch
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alderbranch have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alderbranch
      • Alderbranch is located in Anderson County
  • Cherokee County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wells Creek, with the one closest to Wells Creek listed first.
    • Maydelle
      (15 miles [24.1 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>
    • Cuney
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • 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
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reese
      • Reese is located in Cherokee County
    • Dialville
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dialville
      • Dialville is located in Cherokee County
    • Jacksonville
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Larissa ‑ Historic
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • 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
    • Turney
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turney
      • Turney is located in Cherokee County
    • Rusk
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rusk
      • Rusk is located in Cherokee County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,664 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rusk <3>
    • Mount Selman
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Selman
      • Mount Selman is located in Cherokee County
    • Gallatin
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gallatin have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gallatin
      • Gallatin is located in Cherokee County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 435 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Gallatin <3>
    • New Birmingham ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for New Birmingham. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Birmingham
      • New Birmingham is located in Cherokee County
    • Bullard
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bullard have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bullard
      • Bullard is located in Cherokee County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,891 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bullard <3>
  • Freestone County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wells Creek, with the one closest to Wells Creek listed first.
    • Oakwood
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • 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>
    • Red Lake
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Lake
      • Red Lake is located in Freestone County
    • Turlington
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turlington
      • Turlington is located in Freestone County
  • Henderson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wells Creek, with the one closest to Wells Creek listed first.
    • Poynor
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • 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>
    • Berryville
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • 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
    • LaRue
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Coffee City
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coffee City
      • Coffee City is located in Henderson County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 299 people
    • Moore Station
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • 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
    • Pine Grove
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Grove
      • Pine Grove is located in Henderson County
    • Cross Roads
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cross Roads
      • Cross Roads is located in Henderson County
    • Leagueville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leagueville
      • Leagueville is located in Henderson County
  • Houston County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wells Creek, with the one closest to Wells Creek listed first.
    • Grapeland
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Refuge
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Refuge
      • Refuge is located in Houston County
    • Weches
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Weches have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weches
      • Weches is located in Houston County
    • Latexo
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Belott
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belott
      • Belott is located in Houston County
    • Bluff City ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bluff City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bluff City
      • Bluff City is located in Houston County
  • Smith County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wells Creek, with the one closest to Wells Creek listed first.
    • Dogwood City
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • 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
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Teaselville
      • Teaselville is located in Smith County
    • Lee Spring
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lee Spring have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lee Spring
      • Lee Spring is located in Smith County
    • Flint
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)

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

Newspapers Published in Wells Creek ...

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 49 newspapers that have been published in the area around Wells Creek.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Wells Creek, there are papers which were published within 26 miles [41.8 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Wells Creek.

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 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 Wells Creek:

Cemeteries Near Wells Creek ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Wells Creek.

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

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

  • Blackshear Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • Thomas Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Thomas Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Thomas Cemetery
  • Price Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
  • Beth Israel Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • St. Josephs Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Josephs Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Josephs Cemetery
  • Memorial Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Palestine City Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Roselawn Park Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Swanson Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Mason Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mason Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mason Cemetery
  • Wilson Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wilson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wilson Cemetery
  • Pinery Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Pinery Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pinery Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2193793 <6>
  • Continue List   (261 more) ...
    • Mound Prairie Cemetery
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Williams Cemetery
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Williams Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Williams Cemetery
    • Lumpkin Cemetery
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lumpkin Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lumpkin Cemetery

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.<7>

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

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

  • Palestine
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Neches
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Cronin
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cronin have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cronin
    • Cronin is located in Anderson County
  • Alderbranch
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alderbranch have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alderbranch
    • Alderbranch is located in Anderson County
  • Montalba
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • 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>
  • Brushy Creek
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • 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
  • Elkhart
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
  • Tucker
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tucker
    • Tucker is located in Anderson County
  • Fosterville
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • 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
  • Tennessee Colony
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
  • Long Lake
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • 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
  • Bradford
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bradford
    • Bradford is located in Anderson County
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Blackfoot
      (18 miles [29 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
    • Jacksonville
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Berryville
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • 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

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

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

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

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

Footnotes ...

<1>It's generally believed that possessive apostrophes are removed to prevent confusion on maps where the apostrophe may be confused with a cartographic symbol. While this is generally true, it's not uncommon to find possessive apostrophes in administrative names (such as towns or counties).
<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>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.
<5>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- Wells Creek) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Wells Creek. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.8028, Longitude: -95.5714       In this case, the coordinates for Wells Creek have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>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.
<7>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 Wells Creek, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Oct 2024