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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 Williamsburg (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 Williamsburg. 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 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.

Williamsburg is located in Lavaca 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 Lavaca County: Colorado, DeWitt, Fayette, Gonzales, Jackson, Victoria & Wharton.

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

  • Lavaca County     (The home county of Williamsburg)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Williamsburg, with the one closest to Williamsburg listed first.
    • Hallettsville
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Wied
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Wied is located in Lavaca County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wied
    • Sweet Home
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Ezzell
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Ezzell is located in Lavaca County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ezzell
    • Breslau
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • Breslau is located in Lavaca County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Breslau
    • Sublime
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Hope
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
      • Hope is located in Lavaca County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hope
    • Hackberry ‑ Historic
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Hackberry is located in Lavaca County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hackberry
    • Moravia
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Moravia is located in Lavaca County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moravia
    • Komensky
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Komensky is located in Lavaca County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Komensky
    • Shiner
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Gleckler
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Gleckler is located in Lavaca County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gleckler
  • Colorado County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Williamsburg, with the one closest to Williamsburg listed first.
    • Oakland
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Sheridan
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • New Bielau ‑ Historic
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • New Bielau is located in Colorado County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Bielau
    • Provident City ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Provident City is located in Colorado County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Provident City
    • Weimar
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Borden
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Borden is located in Colorado County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Borden
    • Rock Island
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Rock Island is located in Colorado County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Island
  • DeWitt County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Williamsburg, with the one closest to Williamsburg listed first.
    • Yoakum
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Terryville
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Terryville is located in DeWitt County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Terryville
    • Pearl City
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Pearl City is located in DeWitt County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pearl City
    • Edgar
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Edgar is located in DeWitt County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edgar
    • Hochheim
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Cuero
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Thomaston
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Fayette County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Williamsburg, with the one closest to Williamsburg listed first.
    • Engle
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Engle is located in Fayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Engle
    • Praha
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Praha is located in Fayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Praha
      • Praha has also been known as:
      • Hottentot
    • Schulenburg
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Flatonia
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Dubina ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Dubina is located in Fayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dubina
    • Freyburg
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Freyburg is located in Fayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freyburg
    • Colony
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Colony is located in Fayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colony
    • Muldoon
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
  • Gonzales County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Williamsburg, with the one closest to Williamsburg listed first.
    • Kokernot
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
      • Kokernot is located in Gonzales County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kokernot
    • Glaze City
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Glaze City is located in Gonzales County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glaze City
    • Hamon
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Hamon is located in Gonzales County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hamon
    • Cheapside
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Cheapside is located in Gonzales County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cheapside
    • Waelder
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Gonzales
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Jackson County
    • Morales
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Morales is located in Jackson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Morales

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

Cemeteries Near Williamsburg ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Williamsburg.

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

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

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

  • New County Farm Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Old County Farm Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Hallettsville City Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hallettsville City Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Hallettsville City Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the east of Hallettsville.
    • The Hallettsville City Cemetery has also been known as:
    • City Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #641455 <2>
  • Jewish Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jewish Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Jewish Cemetery is located outside and to the east of Hallettsville.
  • Sacred Heart Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Pagel Settlement Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Yellow Bank Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Pagel Settlement Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Sweet Home Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Mikeska Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Sweet Home City Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Queen of Peace Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (158 more) ...
    • Fuller Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Coleman Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Charlottenburg Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)

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 Williamsburg had a population of 218 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Hallettsville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Wied
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Wied is located in Lavaca County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wied
  • Sweet Home
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Ezzell
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Ezzell is located in Lavaca County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ezzell
  • Breslau
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Breslau is located in Lavaca County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Breslau
  • Vienna
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Vienna is located in Lavaca County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vienna
  • Kinkler
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Kinkler is located in Lavaca County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kinkler
  • Witting
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Witting is located in Lavaca County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Witting
  • Sublime
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Hope
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Hope is located in Lavaca County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hope
  • Yoakum
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Hackberry ‑ Historic
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Hackberry is located in Lavaca County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hackberry
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Moravia
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Moravia is located in Lavaca County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moravia
    • Shiner
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Terryville
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Terryville is located in DeWitt County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Terryville

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

Newspapers Published in Williamsburg ...

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 57 newspapers that have been published in the area around Williamsburg.

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

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 Williamsburg:

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