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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 Aden (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 Aden. 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.

Aden is located in Shelby County.

To see how the shape of Alabama's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Shelby County: Bibb, Chilton, Coosa, Jefferson, Saint Clair & Talladega.

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

  • Shelby County     (The home county of Aden)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Aden, with the one closest to Aden listed first.
    • Sawmill Town
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Sawmill Town is located in Shelby County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sawmill Town
    • Maylene
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Bamford
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Bamford is located in Shelby County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bamford
    • Brantleyville
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Tulse
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Tulse is located in Shelby County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tulse
    • Montevallo
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Wilton
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Wilton is located in Shelby County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 684 people
      • Former names for Wilton:
      • Birmingham Junction
      • Bismarck
      • Catoosa
      • Woods
      • Woodsborough
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Wilton
      • From Aden to Wilton
    • Alabaster
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Helena
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Siluria
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Saginaw
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Saginaw is located in Shelby County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saginaw
    • Falliston
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Falliston is located in Shelby County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Falliston
  • Bibb County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Aden, with the one closest to Aden listed first.
    • Eddings
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Eddings is located in Bibb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eddings
    • Cane Creek ‑ Historic
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Cane Creek is located in Bibb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cane Creek
    • Seymour
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Seymour is located in Bibb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seymour
    • Belle Ellen
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Nash Town ‑ Historic
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Nash Town is located in Bibb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nash Town
    • Blocton ‑ Historic
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Blocton is located in Bibb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blocton
    • Italian Town
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Italian Town is located in Bibb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Italian Town
    • Bucktown ‑ Historic
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Bucktown is located in Bibb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bucktown
    • Corinne ‑ Historic
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Corinne is located in Bibb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Corinne
    • Burmah ‑ Historic
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • Burmah is located in Bibb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burmah
    • West Blocton
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Woodstock
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Chilton County
  • Coosa County
    • Aucheucaula ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Aucheucaula is located in Coosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aucheucaula
  • Jefferson County
  • Perry County
  • Tuscaloosa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Aden, with the one closest to Aden listed first.
    • Tannehill
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Tannehill is located in Tuscaloosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tannehill
    • Lake View
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Lake View is located in Tuscaloosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake View
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,732 people
    • Vance
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
      • Vance is located in Tuscaloosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vance
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,807 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Vance <1>
    • Abernant
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Brookwood
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Pearson
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Coaling
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Coaling is located in Tuscaloosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coaling
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,633 people
    • Kellerman
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Hagler
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Bull City
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Bull City is located in Tuscaloosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bull City
    • Peterson
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Cottondale
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)

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

Cemeteries Near Aden ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Aden.

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

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

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

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.<4>

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

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

  • Anita
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Anita is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Anita
  • Boothton
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Boothton is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boothton
  • Gurnee
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Gurnee is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gurnee
  • Blocton ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Blocton is located in Bibb County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blocton
  • Dogwood
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Dogwood is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dogwood
  • Woodstock
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Montevallo
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Maylene
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Tulse
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Tulse is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tulse
  • Bamford
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Bamford is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bamford
  • Tannehill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Tannehill is located in Tuscaloosa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tannehill
  • Green Pond
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in Aden ...

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 19 newspapers that have been published in the area around Aden.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Aden, there are papers which were published within 8 miles [12.9 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Aden.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These websites either 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 Aden:

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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Aden) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<4>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 Aden, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.