RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Alabama >> Jackson County >> Aspel >> 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 Aspel (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 Aspel. 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.

Aspel is located in Jackson 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 Jackson County: DeKalb, Madison, Marshall, Dade (GA), Franklin (TN) & Marion (TN).

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

  • Jackson County     (The home county of Aspel)
  • DeKalb County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Aspel, with the one closest to Aspel listed first.
    • Grove Oak
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Hix ‑ Historic
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Hix is located in DeKalb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hix
    • Powell
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Gibson Crossroads
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Chigger Hill
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Whiton
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Fyffe
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Luttrell
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Rogers
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Lakeview
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Lakeview is located in DeKalb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 156 people
    • Shiloh
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Shiloh is located in DeKalb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shiloh
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 305 people
    • Geraldine
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Etowah County
    • Sardis City
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Sardis City is located in Etowah County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sardis City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,776 people
  • Madison County
  • Marshall County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Aspel, with the one closest to Aspel listed first.
    • Grant
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Mid ‑ Historic
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Mid is located in Marshall County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mid
    • Columbus City Ferry
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Columbus City Ferry is located in Marshall County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Columbus City Ferry
    • Columbus City
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Columbus City is located in Marshall County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Columbus City
    • North ‑ Historic
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • North is located in Marshall County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North
    • Fort Deposit ‑ Historic
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Fort Deposit is located in Marshall County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Deposit
    • Peters ‑ Historic
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • Peters is located in Marshall County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peters
    • Ferns Quarter ‑ Historic
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
      • Ferns Quarter is located in Marshall County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ferns Quarter
    • Rayburn
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Guntersville
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Wyeth City
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Wyeth City is located in Marshall County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wyeth City
    • Hustleville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
  • Morgan County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Aspel, with the one closest to Aspel listed first.
    • Morgan City
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Morgan City is located in Morgan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Morgan City
    • Lacey's Spring
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Briscoe
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Apple Grove
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Valhermoso Springs
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Franklin County (TN)

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

Cemeteries Near Aspel ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Aspel.

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

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

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

  • Maple Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
  • Zions Rest Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
  • Guffy Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Prospect Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Kelly Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Mt. Olive Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Gross Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Rosson Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Dotson Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Blue Spring Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Gentle Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Erwin Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (713 more) ...
    • Isbell Cemetery
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • McCamy Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Berry Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 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.<2>

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

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

  • Dry Cove ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Dry Cove is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dry Cove
  • Lim Rock
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Dodsonville ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Dodsonville is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dodsonville
  • Swearengin
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Swearengin is located in Marshall County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swearengin
  • Larkinsville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Preston
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Preston is located in Marshall County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Preston
  • Woodville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Langston
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Grant
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Scottsboro
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Trenton
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Paint Rock
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Nebo
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Nebo is located in Madison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nebo
    • Keel ‑ Historic
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Keel is located in Marshall County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keel
    • Mid ‑ Historic
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Mid is located in Marshall County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mid

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

Newspapers Published in Aspel ...

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 20 newspapers that have been published in the area around Aspel.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Aspel, there are papers which were published within 13 miles [20.9 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Aspel.

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 Aspel:

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>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 Aspel, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Aspel) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.