RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Texas >> Bell County >> Westcliff >> Genealogy HelperIndex...

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 Westcliff (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 Westcliff. 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 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.

Westcliff is located in Bell 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 Bell County: Burnet, Coryell, Falls, Lampasas, McLennan, Milam & Williamson.

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

  • Bell County     (The home county of Westcliff)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Westcliff, with the one closest to Westcliff listed first.
    • Morgan's Point Resort
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Belton
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Nolanville
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Moffat
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Moffat is located in Bell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moffat
    • Brookhaven
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Brookhaven is located in Bell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brookhaven
    • Harker Heights
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Temple
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Pendleton
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Salado
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Little River
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Walker Village
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • Walker Village is located in Bell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walker Village
    • Academy
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Academy is located in Bell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Academy
  • Burnet County
  • Coryell County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Westcliff, with the one closest to Westcliff listed first.
    • The Grove
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
      • The Grove is located in Coryell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for The Grove
    • Mason Crossing ‑ Historic
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Mason Crossing is located in Coryell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mason Crossing
    • Flat
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Leon Junction
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Mound
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Saint Elijah Village
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Saint Elijah Village is located in Coryell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Elijah Village
    • Comanche Village I
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Comanche Village I is located in Coryell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Comanche Village I
    • Comanche Village II
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Comanche Village II is located in Coryell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Comanche Village II
    • Comanche Village III
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
      • Comanche Village III is located in Coryell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Comanche Village III
    • Montague Village
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
      • Montague Village is located in Coryell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montague Village
    • Lime City
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Lime City is located in Coryell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lime City
    • Oglesby
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
  • Falls County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Westcliff, with the one closest to Westcliff listed first.
    • Blevins
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Blevins is located in Falls County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blevins
    • Bruceville - Eddy
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Bruceville - Eddy is located in Falls County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bruceville - Eddy
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,704 people
    • Durango
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Durango is located in Falls County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Durango
    • Westphalia
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Westphalia is located in Falls County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westphalia
    • Barclay
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Barclay is located in Falls County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barclay
    • Mooreville
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Mooreville is located in Falls County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mooreville
    • Zipperlandville ‑ Historic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Zipperlandville is located in Falls County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zipperlandville
      • Zipperlandville has also been known as:
      • Zipperlen
      • Zipperlenville
    • Lott
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Chilton
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • North Prairie
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • North Prairie is located in Falls County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Prairie
  • Lampasas County
    • Kempner
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
  • McLennan County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Westcliff, with the one closest to Westcliff listed first.
    • Moody
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Moody is located in McLennan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moody
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,433 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Moody <1>
    • Eddy
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Bruceville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Lorena
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Lorena is located in McLennan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lorena
    • Crawford
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Hewitt
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Hewitt is located in McLennan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hewitt
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 15,113 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hewitt <1>
  • Milam County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Westcliff, with the one closest to Westcliff listed first.
    • Val Verde
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Val Verde is located in Milam County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Val Verde
    • Davilla
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Buckholts
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Williamson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Westcliff, with the one closest to Westcliff listed first.
    • Schwertner
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Jarrell
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Florence
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Walburg
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Granger
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Friendship ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Friendship is located in Williamson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friendship
    • Serenada
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Serenada is located in Williamson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Serenada
    • Weir
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Weir is located in Williamson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weir
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 549 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Weir <1>
    • Andice
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Sun City
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Sun City is located in Williamson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sun City

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

Cemeteries Near Westcliff ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Westcliff.

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 Westcliff - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • McDowell Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
  • North Belton Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • South Belton Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Hill Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hill Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Hill Cemetery is located outside and to the east of Belton.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #4232 <2>
  • Pleasant Hill Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Resthaven Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Resthaven Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Resthaven Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located between<3> the communities of Belton and Salado.  The cemetery lies 2 miles [3.2 km]<4> to the southwest of Belton.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #6326 <2>
  • East Belton Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Bellwood Memorial Park
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Proctor Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Moffat Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Burris Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Trimmier Family Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (172 more) ...
    • Allen Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Taylors Valley Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Cedar Creek Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 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.<5>

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

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

  • Nolanville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Belton
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Moffat
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Moffat is located in Bell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moffat
  • Brookhaven
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Brookhaven is located in Bell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brookhaven
  • Temple
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • The Grove
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • The Grove is located in Coryell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for The Grove
  • Salado
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • Pendleton
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Little River
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Troy
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Killeen
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Heidenheimer
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Whitson
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Whitson is located in Coryell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whitson
    • Youngsport
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Youngsport is located in Bell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Youngsport
    • Leon Junction
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)

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

Newspapers Published in Westcliff ...

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 90 newspapers that have been published in the area around Westcliff.

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

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 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 Westcliff:

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>To help visualize the location of the cemetery, we've drawn a straight line between the communities of Belton and Salado. The cemetery can be found near that line and roughly halfway between the two communities. Remember that this is just an approximate location.
<4>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Westcliff) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Westcliff, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.