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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 Boyds (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 Boyds. 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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.

Boyds is located in Chambers 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 Chambers County: Lee, Randolph, Tallapoosa, Harris (GA) & Troup (GA).

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

  • Chambers County     (The home county of Boyds)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Boyds, with the one closest to Boyds listed first.
    • LaFayette
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Cusseta
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Blackman
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Huguley
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
      • Huguley is located in Chambers County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huguley
    • Waverly
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Waverly is located in Chambers County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waverly
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 143 people
    • Lanett
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Plant City
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Plant City is located in Chambers County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plant City
    • Chapel Hill
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Eady City
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
      • Eady City is located in Chambers County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eady City
    • Valley
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Penton
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Fredonia
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Five Points
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Five Points is located in Chambers County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 137 people
  • Clay County
    • Motley
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Motley is located in Clay County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Motley
  • Hale County
    • Erie ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Erie is located in Hale County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erie
  • Lee County
  • Macon County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Boyds, with the one closest to Boyds listed first.
    • Notasulga
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Liberty City
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Liberty City is located in Macon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty City
    • Society Hill
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
  • Randolph County
  • Russell County
  • Tallapoosa County
  • Harris County (GA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Boyds, with the one closest to Boyds listed first.
    • Pine Lake
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Mountain Hill
      (23 miles [37 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
    • Hamilton
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
  • Heard County (GA)
  • Muscogee County (GA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Boyds, with the one closest to Boyds listed first.
    • Fortson
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Twin Chapel
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Twin Chapel is located in Muscogee County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Chapel
      • Estimated population in 2019: 1,701 people
  • Troup County (GA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Boyds, with the one closest to Boyds listed first.
    • West Point
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • North West Point
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Abbottsford
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Evansville
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Vernon ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Vernon is located in Troup County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vernon
    • West Lake Village
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • West Lake Village is located in Troup County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Lake Village
    • Pioneer Village
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Pioneer Village is located in Troup County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pioneer Village
    • Rockwell Estates
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Rockwell Estates is located in Troup County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockwell Estates
    • LaGrange
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Sassafrass Hills
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Sassafrass Hills is located in Troup County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sassafrass Hills
      • Estimated population in 2019: 255 people
    • Sunny Point
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Sunny Point is located in Troup County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunny Point
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 1,303 people

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

Cemeteries Near Boyds ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Boyds.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Boyds, with the one closest to Boyds 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 in 1895, Boyds had railroad service and no post office.

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

  • Moorefield
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Moorefield is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moorefield
  • Oak Bowery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Oak Bowery is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Bowery
  • Tuckersburg
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Tuckersburg is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tuckersburg
  • LaFayette
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Cusseta
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Blackman
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Gold Hill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Gold Hill is located in Lee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gold Hill
  • Buffalo
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Buffalo is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buffalo
  • Opelika
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Marcoot
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Marcoot is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marcoot
  • Judson
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Judson is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Judson
  • Waverly
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Waverly is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waverly
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 143 people
  • 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 Boyds. See our List of 1890's Communities around Boyds.

Newspapers Published in Boyds ...

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 62 newspapers that have been published in the area around Boyds.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Boyds, there are papers which were published within 15 miles [24.1 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Boyds.

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 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 Boyds:

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 Boyds, 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Boyds) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.