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 Brian Head (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 Brian Head. 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 northeast 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 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 east 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.
Brian Head is located in Iron County.
To see how the shape of Utah's counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Iron County: Lincoln (NV), Beaver, Garfield, Kane & Washington.
Below are the counties that are near Brian Head. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Brian Head:
- Iron County (The home county of Brian Head)
- The following are listed by their distance from Brian Head, with the one closest to Brian Head listed first.
- Summit
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
- Parowan Adobe Fort ‑ Historic
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
- Parowan
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
- Enoch
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
- Fort Johnson ‑ Historic
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
- Johnson's Fort ‑ Historic
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Johnson's Fort. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johnson's Fort
- Johnson's Fort is located in Iron County
- Johnson's Fort has also been known as:
- Johnson Springs
- Google driving directions:
- From your current location to Johnson's Fort
- From Brian Head to Johnson's Fort
- Cedar Highlands
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
- Cedar City
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
- Paragonah Fort ‑ Historic
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
- Paragonah
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
- Hamiltons Fort
(18 miles [29 km] to the west)
- Fort Kanarra ‑ Historic
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
- Garfield County
- The following are listed by their distance from Brian Head, with the one closest to Brian Head listed first.
- Panguitch Lake Resort
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
- Asay ‑ Historic
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
- Hatch
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hatch have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hatch
- Hatch is located in Garfield County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 141 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hatch <1>
- Panguitch Fort ‑ Historic
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
- Panguitch
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
- Hillsdale
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Hillsdale. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillsdale
- Hillsdale is located in Garfield County
- Google driving directions:
- From your current location to Hillsdale
- From Brian Head to Hillsdale
- Bear Valley Junction
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
- Kane County
- The following are listed by their distance from Brian Head, with the one closest to Brian Head listed first.
- Duck Creek Village
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
- Long Valley Junction
(23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
- Alton
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
- Glendale
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
- Washington County
- The following are listed by their distance from Brian Head, with the one closest to Brian Head listed first.
- Blue Springs
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
- Fort Harmony ‑ Historic
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
- New Harmony
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Brian Head, see our County-by-County Page for Brian Head.
Cemeteries Near Brian Head ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Brian Head.
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 Brian Head covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Brian Head, with the one closest to Brian Head listed first.
- Summit City Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
- Parowan City Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
- Enoch City Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
- Cedar City Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
- Paragonah Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
- Kanarraville Cemetery
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
- Hatch City Cemetery
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
- Panguitch City Cemetery
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
- Hillsdale Cemetery
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
- Ft. Harmony
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
- Alton Cemetery
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
- Bryce Woodlands Cemetery
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
- Continue List (7 more) ...
- Spry Cemetery
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
- Roundy Cemetery
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
- Roundy / Johnson Cemetery
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
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 Brian Head in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Brian Head.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Brian Head, with the one closest to Brian Head listed first.
- Parowan
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
- Cedar City
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
- Paragonah
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
- Kanarraville
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kanarraville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kanarraville
- Kanarraville is located in Iron County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 410 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Kanarraville <1>
- Panguitch
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
- New Harmony
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
- Glendale
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Brian Head. See our List of 1890's Communities around Brian Head.
Newspapers Published in Brian Head ...
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 7 newspapers that have been published in the area around Brian Head.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Brian Head, there are papers which were published within 24 miles [38.6 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Brian Head.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we begin with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These professional and volunteer 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 Brian Head:
- Websites specific to Utah
- Pages specific to Iron County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Garfield County
- Kane County
- Washington County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Utah
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Brian Head: brianheadtown.utah.gov/
The official website for Iron County: www.ironnet.org/
The official website for State of Utah: https://www.utah.gov/
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> | 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. |
<3> | 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. |
<4> | 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. |
<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- Brian Head) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Brian Head. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.6981, Longitude: -112.8451 |
<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 Brian Head, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |