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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 Auburn (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 Auburn. 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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.

Auburn is located in Lee 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 Lee County: Chambers, Macon, Russell, Tallapoosa, Harris (GA) & Muscogee (GA).

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

  • Lee County     (The home county of Auburn)
  • Chambers County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Auburn, with the one closest to Auburn listed first.
    • Waverly
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Waverly is located in Chambers County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waverly
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 143 people
    • Boyds
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Cusseta
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Blackman
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • LaFayette
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Huguley
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Huguley is located in Chambers County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huguley
    • Osanippa
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Valley
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Eady City
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Eady City is located in Chambers County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eady City
    • Plant City
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Plant City is located in Chambers County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plant City
    • River View
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Lanett
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
  • Elmore County
  • Hale County
    • Erie ‑ Historic
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Erie was located in Hale County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erie
  • Macon County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Auburn, with the one closest to Auburn listed first.
    • Notasulga
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Society Hill
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Liberty City
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Liberty City is located in Macon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty City
    • Tuskegee
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Franklin
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Hornady
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Hornady is located in Macon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hornady
    • Armstrong
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Armstrong is located in Macon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Armstrong
    • Calebee
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • La Place
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Fort Davis
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Hardaway
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Hardaway is located in Macon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hardaway
    • Shorter
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Russell County
  • Tallapoosa County
  • Harris County (GA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Auburn, with the one closest to Auburn listed first.
    • Mountain Hill
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Mountain Hill is located in Harris County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Hill
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 11,554 people
    • Pine Lake
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Muscogee County (GA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Auburn, with the one closest to Auburn listed first.
    • Bibb City
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Bibb City is located in Muscogee County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bibb City
    • City Village
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • City Village is located in Muscogee County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for City Village
    • Twin Chapel
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Twin Chapel is located in Muscogee County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Chapel
      • Estimated population in 2019: 1,701 people
    • Columbus
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
    • Maridale Estates
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Maridale Estates is located in Muscogee County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maridale Estates
      • Estimated population in 2019: 60,867 people
  • Troup County (GA)

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

Cemeteries Near Auburn ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Auburn.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Auburn, with the one closest to Auburn 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.<3>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Auburn had a population of 1,440 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Auburn had a population of 68,343 people.

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

  • Opelika
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Loachapoka
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Gold Hill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Gold Hill is also located in Lee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gold Hill
  • Chewacla
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Alliance
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Alliance is located in Macon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alliance
  • Waverly
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Waverly is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waverly
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 143 people
  • Oak Bowery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Oak Bowery is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Bowery
  • Notasulga
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Society Hill
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
  • Tuckersburg
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Tuckersburg is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tuckersburg
  • Roxana
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Salem
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Boyds
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Moorefield
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Moorefield is located in Chambers County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moorefield
    • Mary
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Mary is located in Tallapoosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mary

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Auburn ...

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 89 newspapers that have been published in the area around Auburn.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Auburn. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Auburn and those printed in the larger area surrounding Auburn.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 20 miles [32.2 km]<4> of Auburn.

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 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 Auburn:

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 Auburn, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Auburn) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.