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 West Port Arthur (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 West Port Arthur. 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 West Port Arthur ...
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 West Port Arthur: W. Prt. Arthur
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 hospitals and doctors 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.
West Port Arthur is located in Jefferson 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 Jefferson County: Chambers, Hardin, Liberty & Orange.
Below are the counties that are near West Port Arthur. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to West Port Arthur:
- Jefferson County (The home county of West Port Arthur)
- The following are listed by their distance from West Port Arthur, with the one closest to West Port Arthur listed first.
- Port Arthur
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
- Port Acres
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
- Port Neches
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
- Groves
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- Nederland
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
- Sabine Pass
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- Taylor Landing
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
- Taylor Landing is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Taylor Landing
- Population from the 2020 Census: 237 people
- Central Gardens
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
- Central Gardens is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Central Gardens
- La Belle
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
- La Belle is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Belle
- Higgins
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
- Higgins is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Higgins
- Beaumont
(18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
- Amelia
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
- Amelia is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Amelia
- Chambers County
- The following are listed by their distance from West Port Arthur, with the one closest to West Port Arthur listed first.
- Stowell
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
- Winnie
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
- Hardin County
- The following are listed by their distance from West Port Arthur, with the one closest to West Port Arthur listed first.
- Loeb
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
- Loeb is located in Hardin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loeb
- Rose Hill Acres
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
- Rose Hill Acres is located in Hardin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rose Hill Acres
- Population from the 2020 Census: 435 people
- Pinewood Estates
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
- Pinewood Estates is located in Hardin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pinewood Estates
- Orange County
- The following are listed by their distance from West Port Arthur, with the one closest to West Port Arthur listed first.
- Bridge City
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
- Terry
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
- Terry is located in Orange County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Terry
- Orangefield
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
- Rose City
(18 miles [29 km] to the north)
- Rose City is located in Orange County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rose City
- Population from the 2020 Census: 489 people
- Vidor
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
- West Orange
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
- Pinehurst
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
- Pinehurst is located in Orange County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pinehurst
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,959 people
- Pine Grove
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
- Pine Grove is located in Orange County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Grove
- Orange
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
- Pine Forest
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
- Pine Forest is located in Orange County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Forest
- Population from the 2020 Census: 516 people
- Mauriceville
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
- Lemonville ‑ Historic
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
- Lemonville is located in Orange County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lemonville
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to West Port Arthur, see our County-by-County Page for West Port Arthur.
Cemeteries Near West Port Arthur ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of West Port Arthur.
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 West Port Arthur - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for West Port Arthur covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from West Port Arthur, with the one closest to West Port Arthur listed first.
- Calvary Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Greenlawn Memorial Park
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Johnson Memorial Park
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johnson Memorial Park
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Johnson Memorial Park is a large cemetery that is located in Groves.
- The Johnson Memorial Park has also been known as:
- Johnson Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1987385 <2>
- Forest Lawn Memorial Park
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
- McGaffey Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Sabine Pass Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sabine Pass Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Sabine Pass Cemetery is located outside and to the southwest of Sabine Pass.
- The Sabine Pass Cemetery has also been known as:
- Pace Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2168432 <2>
- Hillebrandt Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
- Floyd Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
- Smith Ridge Cemetery
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
- Thomas Cemetery
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- Adcock Cemetery
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- Broussard Cemetery
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
- Continue List (38 more) ...
- Peveto Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
- Pevoto Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
- Stephenson Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
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>
While we didn't find West Port Arthur in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of West Port Arthur.
These communities are listed based on their distance from West Port Arthur, with the one closest to West Port Arthur listed first.
- Sabine Pass
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- La Belle
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
- La Belle is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Belle
- Terry
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
- Terry is located in Orange County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Terry
- Beaumont
(18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
- Tulane
(18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
- Tulane is located in Orange County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tulane
- Amelia
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
- Amelia is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Amelia
- Johnsons Bayou
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
- Johnsons Bayou is located in Cameron Parish (LA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johnsons Bayou
- Rosedale
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
- Rosedale is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosedale
- Orange
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
- Pine Island
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
- Pine Island is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Island
- Echo
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
- Echo is located in Orange County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Echo
- China
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around West Port Arthur. See our List of 1890's Communities around West Port Arthur.
Newspapers Published in West Port Arthur ...
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 40 newspapers that have been published in the area around West Port Arthur.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of West Port Arthur, there are papers which were published within 24 miles [38.6 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for West Port Arthur.
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 helpful 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 West Port Arthur:
- Websites specific to Texas
- Pages specific to Jefferson County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Chambers County
- Hardin County
- Orange County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Texas
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 West Port Arthur, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- West Port Arthur) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |