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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 Bessemer (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 Bessemer. 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 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.

Bessemer is located in Jefferson 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 Jefferson County: Bibb, Blount, Saint Clair, Shelby, Tuscaloosa & Walker.

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

  • Jefferson County     (The home county of Bessemer)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bessemer, with the one closest to Bessemer listed first.
    • Blue Creek Junction
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Blue Creek Junction is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blue Creek Junction
    • New Village
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • New Village is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Village
    • Old Jonesboro
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Brighton
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Lipscomb
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Lipscomb is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lipscomb
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,110 people
    • Mobile Junction
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Roosevelt - Cairo Village
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Winetka
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Industrial City
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Industrial City is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Industrial City
    • Dolomite
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Hueytown
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Bullard Shoals ‑ Historic
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Bullard Shoals is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bullard Shoals
  • Bibb County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bessemer, with the one closest to Bessemer listed first.
    • Green Pond
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Woodstock
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Blocton Junction
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • North Bibb
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
      • North Bibb is located in Bibb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Bibb
    • Cane Creek ‑ Historic
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Cane Creek is located in Bibb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cane Creek
    • Eddings
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Eddings is located in Bibb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eddings
    • Belle Ellen
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Nash Town ‑ Historic
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Nash Town is located in Bibb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nash Town
    • Seymour
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Seymour is located in Bibb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seymour
    • Blocton ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Blocton is located in Bibb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blocton
    • Burmah ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Burmah is located in Bibb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burmah
    • Corinne ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Corinne is located in Bibb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Corinne
  • Blount County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bessemer, with the one closest to Bessemer listed first.
    • Dale ‑ Historic
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Dale is located in Blount County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dale
    • Warrior
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Red Hill
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Red Hill is located in Blount County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Hill
  • Saint Clair County
  • Shelby County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bessemer, with the one closest to Bessemer listed first.
    • Bamford
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
      • Bamford is located in Shelby County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bamford
    • Tacoa
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Tacoa is located in Shelby County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tacoa
    • Falliston
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Falliston is located in Shelby County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Falliston
    • Helena
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Tulse
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Tulse is located in Shelby County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tulse
    • Indian Springs Village
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Indian Springs Village is located in Shelby County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Springs Village
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,628 people
    • Alabaster
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Pelham
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Inverness
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
      • Inverness is located in Shelby County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Inverness
    • Brantleyville
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Siluria
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Maylene
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
  • Tuscaloosa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bessemer, with the one closest to Bessemer listed first.
    • Tannehill
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Tannehill is located in Tuscaloosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tannehill
    • Lake View
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Abernant
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Bull City
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Bull City is located in Tuscaloosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bull City
    • Kellerman
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Vance
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • 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>
    • Brookwood
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Coaling
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Coaling is located in Tuscaloosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coaling
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,633 people
    • Peterson
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Walker County

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

Cemeteries Near Bessemer ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Bessemer.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Bessemer, with the one closest to Bessemer 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 Bessemer had a population of 4,544 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Bessemer had a population of 26,043 people.

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

  • Sloss
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Sloss is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sloss
  • Brickyard Junction
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Brickyard Junction is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brickyard Junction
  • Old Jonesboro
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Woodward Junction
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Woodward Junction is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodward Junction
  • Blue Creek Junction
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Blue Creek Junction is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blue Creek Junction
  • McAdory
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • McAdory is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McAdory
  • Collins
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Collins is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Collins
  • Hillman
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Hillman is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillman
  • Ware
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Ware is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ware
  • Dolomite
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Bullard Shoals ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Bullard Shoals is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bullard Shoals
  • Chinn
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Chinn is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chinn
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Bessemer ...

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 24 newspapers that have been published in the area around Bessemer.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Bessemer. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Bessemer and those printed in the larger area surrounding Bessemer.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 4 miles [6.4 km]<4> of Bessemer.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These 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 Bessemer:

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 Bessemer, 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' (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- Bessemer) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.