Our Genealogy Helper
Introduction ...
Although we found mention of Chumley during our research, we have little information about it.<1> Given the context of how Chumley was mentioned, we believe that it was a community rather than a locale or some type of landmark. We have done a cursory search and if it was a community, we haven't been able to find any evidence that it still exists..
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 Chumley (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 Chumley. 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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.
Chumley is located in DeKalb 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 DeKalb County: Cherokee, Etowah, Jackson, Marshall, Chattooga (GA), Dade (GA) & Walker (GA).
Below are the counties that are near Chumley. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Chumley:
- DeKalb County (The home county of Chumley)
- The following are listed by their distance from Chumley, with the one closest to Chumley listed first.
- Marcus ‑ Historic
(Less than 2 miles to the west)
- Marcus is located in DeKalb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marcus
- Cotnam
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
- Cotnam is located in DeKalb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cotnam
- Rodentown
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Rodentown is located in DeKalb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rodentown
- Crossville
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Dawson
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Dawson is located in DeKalb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dawson
- Collinsville
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Mount Zion ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
- Mount Zion is located in DeKalb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Zion
- Rains ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
- Rains is located in DeKalb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rains
- Geraldine
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
- Mount Vernon
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- Mount Vernon is located in DeKalb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Vernon
- Clyde ‑ Historic
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
- Clyde is located in DeKalb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clyde
- Floy ‑ Historic
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
- Floy is located in DeKalb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Floy
- Blount County
- The following are listed by their distance from Chumley, with the one closest to Chumley listed first.
- Highmound
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
- Highmound is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highmound
- McLarty
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- McLarty is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McLarty
- Snead
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- Bright Star
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
- Bright Star is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bright Star
- Fowler ‑ Historic
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
- Fowler is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fowler
- Wynnville
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
- Wynnville is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wynnville
- Bird ‑ Historic
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
- Bird is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bird
- Clarence
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
- Clarence is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clarence
- Craig
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
- Craig is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Craig
- Susan Moore
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
- Susan Moore is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Susan Moore
- Population from the 2020 Census: 797 people
- Fridays Crossing
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
- Fridays Crossing is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fridays Crossing
- Brooksville
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
- Brooksville is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brooksville
- Calhoun County
- The following are listed by their distance from Chumley, with the one closest to Chumley listed first.
- Colvins Gap
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
- Colvins Gap is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colvins Gap
- Douthrittville ‑ Historic
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
- Douthrittville is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Douthrittville
- Oak Level
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
- Oak Level is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Level
- Southside
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
- Collins ‑ Historic
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
- Collins is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Collins
- Adelia ‑ Historic
(23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
- Adelia is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Adelia
- Mack ‑ Historic
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
- Mack is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mack
- Cochran Springs
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
- Cochran Springs is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cochran Springs
- Goshen ‑ Historic
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
- Goshen is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goshen
- Angel
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
- Angel is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Angel
- Hebron ‑ Historic
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
- Hebron is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hebron
- Merrellton
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
- Merrellton is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merrellton
- Cherokee County
- The following are listed by their distance from Chumley, with the one closest to Chumley listed first.
- Leesburg
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
- Sand Rock
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
- Sand Rock is located in Cherokee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sand Rock
- Population from the 2020 Census: 674 people
- Anderson
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
- Centre
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
- Turkey Town ‑ Historic
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
- Turkey Town is located in Cherokee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turkey Town
- Ball Flat
(18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
- Ball Flat is located in Cherokee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ball Flat
- Ricks ‑ Historic
(18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
- Ricks is located in Cherokee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ricks
- Moshat
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
- Moshat is located in Cherokee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moshat
- Cedar Bluff
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
- Taft
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
- Taft is located in Cherokee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Taft
- Blanche
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
- Blanche is located in Cherokee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blanche
- Coloma ‑ Historic
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
- Coloma is located in Cherokee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coloma
- Etowah County
- The following are listed by their distance from Chumley, with the one closest to Chumley listed first.
- Yancy
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
- Yancy is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yancy
- Keener
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Keener is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keener
- Duck Springs
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Duck Springs is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duck Springs
- Whitesboro
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Whitesboro is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whitesboro
- Turkeytown
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
- Turkeytown is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turkeytown
- Wilsonia
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
- Wilsonia is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilsonia
- Crudup
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- Crudup is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crudup
- Haworth ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- Haworth is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haworth
- Anderson
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
- Anderson is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Anderson
- Sardis City
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
- Sardis City is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sardis City
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,776 people
- Coat's Bend
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Coat's Bend is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coat's Bend
- Hale ‑ Historic
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
- Hale is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hale
- Jackson County
- The following are listed by their distance from Chumley, with the one closest to Chumley listed first.
- Rock City
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
- Rock City is located in Jackson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock City
- Langston
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
- Section
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
- Dodsonville ‑ Historic
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
- Dodsonville is located in Jackson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dodsonville
- Dutton
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
- Dutton is located in Jackson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dutton
- Population from the 2020 Census: 307 people
- Ferncliff ‑ Historic
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
- Ferncliff is located in Jackson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ferncliff
- Dry Cove ‑ Historic
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
- Dry Cove is located in Jackson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dry Cove
- Gray ‑ Historic
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
- Gray is located in Jackson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gray
- Aspel
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
- Aspel is located in Jackson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aspel
- Marshall County
- The following are listed by their distance from Chumley, with the one closest to Chumley listed first.
- Boaz
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
- Hustleville
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
- Hustleville is located in Marshall County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hustleville
- Peters ‑ Historic
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
- Peters is located in Marshall County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peters
- Albertville
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
- Minorville ‑ Historic
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
- Minorville is located in Marshall County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minorville
- Bartlett ‑ Historic
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
- Bartlett is located in Marshall County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bartlett
- Whitesville
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
- Whitesville is located in Marshall County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whitesville
- Rabbit Town
(18 miles [29 km] to the west)
- Rabbit Town is located in Marshall County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rabbit Town
- Horton
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
- Horton is located in Marshall County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horton
- Mid ‑ Historic
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
- Mid is located in Marshall County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mid
- Rayburn
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
- Rayburn is located in Marshall County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rayburn
- Gregory
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
- Gregory is located in Marshall County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gregory
- Saint Clair County
- The following are listed by their distance from Chumley, with the one closest to Chumley listed first.
- Steele
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
- Whitney Junction
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
- Whitney Junction is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whitney Junction
- Chattooga County (GA)
- Chattoogaville
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
- Chattoogaville is located in Chattooga County (GA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chattoogaville
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Chumley, see our County-by-County Page for Chumley.
Cemeteries Near Chumley ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Chumley.
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 Chumley - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Chumley covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Chumley, with the one closest to Chumley listed first.
- Bristow Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the south)
- Greenwood Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
- Patrick Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
- Harbour Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
- Lipscomb Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
- Pilgrims Rest Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
- Boyd Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
- Mathis Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
- Gilbreath Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
- Belchers Chapel Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
- Black Creek Baptist Church Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Nicholson Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- Continue List (444 more) ...
- Scott Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Duck Springs Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Union Grove Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
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.<4>
The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Chumley had a post office and no railroad service.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Chumley, with the one closest to Chumley listed first.
- Marcus ‑ Historic
(Less than 2 miles to the west)
- Marcus is located in DeKalb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marcus
- Yancy
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
- Yancy is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yancy
- Cotnam
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
- Cotnam is located in DeKalb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cotnam
- Keener
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Keener is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keener
- Tabor
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Tabor is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tabor
- Rodentown
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Rodentown is located in DeKalb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rodentown
- Duck Springs
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Duck Springs is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duck Springs
- Crossville
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Leonard
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- Leonard is located in Cherokee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leonard
- Collinsville
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Dawson
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Dawson is located in DeKalb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dawson
- Pulltight
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- Pulltight is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pulltight
- Continue List (16 more) ...
- Skirum
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
- Skirum is located in DeKalb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Skirum
- Haworth ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- Haworth is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haworth
- Avery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- Avery is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Avery
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Chumley. See our List of 1890's Communities around Chumley.
Newspapers Published in Chumley ...
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 16 newspapers that have been published in the area around Chumley.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Chumley, there are papers which were published within 11 miles [17.7 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Chumley.
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 Chumley:
- Websites specific to Alabama
- Pages specific to DeKalb County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Blount County
- Calhoun County
- Cherokee County
- Etowah County
- Jackson County
- Marshall County
- Saint Clair County
- Chattooga County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Alabama
Footnotes ...
| <1> | If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer. For example, we might find a sentence like "He went north past Chumley and then turned west". While Chumley could be some kind of landmark, we think that it's more likely to be a community. We've added Chumley as a placeholder with the hope that we'll be able to add more information in the future.
Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Miller Creek to see Pete ... Miller Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.
Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.
Also keep in mind that Chumley could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
Since confusion between counties is common, we searched and weren't able to find another Alabama community named Chumley. |
| <2> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <3> | 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. |
| <4> | 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 Chumley, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <5> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Chumley) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |