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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 East Birmingham (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 East Birmingham. 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.

Name Variations for East Birmingham ...

When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.

For example, a typical abbreviation for East Birmingham: E. Birmingham

If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.

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 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.

East Birmingham 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 East Birmingham. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to East Birmingham:

  • Jefferson County     (The home county of East Birmingham)
    • The following are listed by their distance from East Birmingham, with the one closest to East Birmingham listed first.
    • Vulcan City
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Vulcan City is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vulcan City
    • Avondale
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • Avondale is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Avondale
    • Birmingham
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Bartonville
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Gate City
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Gate City is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gate City
    • Marks Village
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Marks Village is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marks Village
    • Tarrant
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • English Village
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • English Village is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for English Village
    • Hooper City
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Hooper City is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hooper City
    • Zion City
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Zion City is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zion City
    • Mountain Brook Village
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Mountain Brook
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Bibb County
    • The following are listed by their distance from East Birmingham, with the one closest to East Birmingham listed first.
    • Green Pond
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Eddings
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Eddings is located in Bibb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eddings
    • Woodstock
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Blount County
  • Cullman County
  • Saint Clair County
    • The following are listed by their distance from East Birmingham, with the one closest to East Birmingham listed first.
    • Woodland Village
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • Woodland Village is located in Saint Clair County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodland Village
    • Moody
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Acmar
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Parsons
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Brompton
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Argo
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • Argo is located in Saint Clair County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Argo
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,278 people
    • Margaret
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Turnbough Town
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Turnbough Town is located in Saint Clair County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turnbough Town
    • Cook's Springs
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Cook's Springs is located in Saint Clair County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cook's Springs
    • Springville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Vincent
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Vincent is located in Saint Clair County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vincent
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,223 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Vincent <1>
    • Branchville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Branchville is located in Saint Clair County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Branchville
  • Shelby County
    • The following are listed by their distance from East Birmingham, with the one closest to East Birmingham listed first.
    • Bridgeton
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Bridgeton is located in Shelby County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bridgeton
    • Lake Purdy
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Lake Purdy is located in Shelby County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Purdy
    • Inverness
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Inverness is located in Shelby County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Inverness
    • Meadowbrook
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Meadowbrook is located in Shelby County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowbrook
    • Shoal Creek
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Indian Springs Village
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
      • 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
    • Dunavant
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Dunnavant
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Pelham
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Vandiver
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Chelsea
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Tacoa
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • Tacoa is located in Shelby County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tacoa
  • Talladega County
  • Tuscaloosa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from East Birmingham, with the one closest to East Birmingham listed first.
    • Tannehill
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Tannehill is located in Tuscaloosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tannehill
    • Lake View
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Bull City
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Bull City is located in Tuscaloosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bull City
    • Abernant
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Walker County

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

Cemeteries Near East Birmingham ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of East Birmingham.

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 East Birmingham - one of the links might be able to help.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from East Birmingham, with the one closest to East Birmingham 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 East Birmingham had a population of 308 people in 1895 with railroad service and no post office.

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

  • Vanderbilt
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Vanderbilt is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vanderbilt
  • Birmingham
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Avondale
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Avondale is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Avondale
  • Woodlawn
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Woodlawn is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlawn
  • Bartonville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • North Birmingham
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • North Birmingham is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Birmingham
  • Lewisburg
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Lewisburg is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lewisburg
  • Gate City
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Gate City is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gate City
  • East Lake
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • East Lake is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Lake
  • Ruffner
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Ruffner is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ruffner
  • Thomas
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Thomas is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thomas
  • Coalburg
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Coalburg is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coalburg
    • Former name for Coalburg:
    • Coalburgh
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Ensley
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Spaulding
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Spaulding is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spaulding
    • Irondale
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)

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

Newspapers Published in East Birmingham ...

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 201 newspapers that have been published in the area around East Birmingham.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of East Birmingham, there are papers which were published within 6 miles [9.7 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for East Birmingham.

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 East Birmingham:

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