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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 Cherokee (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 Cherokee. 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.

Cherokee is located in Colbert 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 Colbert County: Franklin, Lauderdale, Lawrence & Tishomingo (MS).

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

  • Colbert County     (The home county of Cherokee)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cherokee, with the one closest to Cherokee listed first.
    • Ingleton ‑ Historic
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Ingleton is located in Colbert County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ingleton
    • Doubleheads Village ‑ Historic
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Doubleheads Village is located in Colbert County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Doubleheads Village
    • Gatesville ‑ Historic
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Gatesville is located in Colbert County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gatesville
    • Caryton ‑ Historic
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Caryton is located in Colbert County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Caryton
    • Red Rock
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Crows Camp ‑ Historic
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
      • Crows Camp is located in Colbert County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crows Camp
    • Chickasaw ‑ Historic
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Chickasaw is located in Colbert County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chickasaw
    • Riverton
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Bishop
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Denton ‑ Historic
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Denton is located in Colbert County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Denton
    • Good Springs ‑ Historic
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Good Springs is located in Colbert County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Good Springs
    • Furnace Hill ‑ Historic
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • Furnace Hill is located in Colbert County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Furnace Hill
  • Franklin County
  • Lauderdale County
  • Lawrence County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cherokee, with the one closest to Cherokee listed first.
    • Mehama ‑ Historic
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Edmond
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Avoca ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Avoca is located in Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Avoca
  • Alcorn County (MS)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cherokee, with the one closest to Cherokee listed first.
    • Jacinto
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Glen
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Glen is located in Alcorn County (MS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 406 people
    • Glens
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Farmington
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Farmington is located in Alcorn County (MS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farmington
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,160 people
    • Searcy Town
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Searcy Town is located in Alcorn County (MS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Searcy Town
  • Prentiss County (MS)
  • Tishomingo County (MS)
  • Hardin County (TN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cherokee, with the one closest to Cherokee listed first.
    • Walnut Grove ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Walnut Grove is located in Hardin County (TN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Grove
    • Bruton Branch
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Gibbs ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Gibbs is located in Hardin County (TN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gibbs
    • White Sulphur ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • White Sulphur is located in Hardin County (TN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White Sulphur
    • Lowryville
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Slab Town ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Slab Town is located in Hardin County (TN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Slab Town
    • Nash Landing
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Pyburn
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Hamburg
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Nixon
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Nixon is located in Hardin County (TN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nixon
      • Estimated population in 2014: 718 people
  • Lawrence County (TN)
    • Iron City
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Iron City is located in Lawrence County (TN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iron City
  • Wayne County (TN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cherokee, with the one closest to Cherokee listed first.
    • Cypress Inn
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Whittens Stand ‑ Historic
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Whittens Stand is located in Wayne County (TN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whittens Stand
    • Lutts
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Lutts is located in Wayne County (TN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lutts
      • Estimated population in 2014: 1,080 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lutts <1>

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

Cemeteries Near Cherokee ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Cherokee.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Cherokee, with the one closest to Cherokee 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, Cherokee had a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Cherokee had a population of 999 people.

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

  • Ingleton ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Ingleton is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ingleton
  • Barton
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Barton is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barton
  • Mountain Mills ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Mountain Mills is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Mills
  • Smithsonia
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Smithsonia is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smithsonia
  • Margerum
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Margerum is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Margerum
  • Rhodesville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Rhodesville is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rhodesville
  • Gravelly Springs
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Gravelly Springs is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gravelly Springs
  • Bishop
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Riverton
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Wright
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Wright is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wright
  • Maud
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Maud is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maud
  • Good Springs ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Good Springs is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Good Springs
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Denton ‑ Historic
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Denton is located in Colbert County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Denton
    • Rock Creek
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Rock Creek is located in Colbert County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Creek
    • Oakland
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Oakland is located in Lauderdale County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakland

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Cherokee ...

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 39 newspapers that have been published in the area around Cherokee.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Cherokee. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Cherokee and those printed in the larger area surrounding Cherokee.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 16 miles [25.7 km]<4> of Cherokee.

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 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 Cherokee:

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 Cherokee, 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Cherokee) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.