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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 Flatwood (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 Flatwood. 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 hospitals and 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.

Flatwood is primarily located in Marengo County. A portion of Flatwood extends into Wilcox 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 Marengo County: Choctaw, Clarke, Dallas, Greene, Hale, Perry, Sumter & Wilcox.

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

  • Marengo County     (The home county of Flatwood)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Flatwood, with the one closest to Flatwood listed first.
    • Consul
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Consul is located in Marengo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Consul
    • Thomaston
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Magnolia
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Crenshaw ‑ Historic
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Crenshaw is located in Marengo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crenshaw
    • Hugo
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Vineland
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Vineland is located in Marengo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vineland
    • Dayton
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Ellison ‑ Historic
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Ellison is located in Marengo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ellison
    • Siddonsville
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Tombigbee ‑ Historic
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Tombigbee is located in Marengo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tombigbee
    • Dixon's Mills
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Dixon's Mills is located in Marengo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dixon's Mills
    • Moss ‑ Historic
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Moss is located in Marengo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moss
  • Choctaw County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Flatwood, with the one closest to Flatwood listed first.
    • Cedahoma ‑ Historic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Cedahoma is located in Choctaw County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedahoma
    • Tompkinsville
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Pennington
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Pennington is located in Choctaw County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pennington
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 202 people
  • Clarke County
  • Dallas County
  • Hale County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Flatwood, with the one closest to Flatwood listed first.
    • Gallion
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Prairieville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Newbern
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Newbern is located in Hale County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newbern
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 174 people
    • Arcola
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Monroe County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Flatwood, with the one closest to Flatwood listed first.
    • Hybart
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Vredenburgh
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Vredenburgh is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vredenburgh
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 284 people
  • Perry County
  • Wilcox County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Flatwood, with the one closest to Flatwood listed first.
    • Catherine
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Bethel
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Bethel is located in Wilcox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bethel
    • Lamison
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Gastonburg
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Prairie Bluff ‑ Historic
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Alberta
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Alberta is located in Wilcox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alberta
    • Rehoboth
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Anne Manie
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
      • Anne Manie is located in Wilcox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Anne Manie
    • Arlington
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Millers Ferry
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Millers Ferry is located in Wilcox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millers Ferry
    • Kimbrough
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Kimbrough is located in Wilcox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kimbrough
    • Pine Hill
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
      • Pine Hill is located in Wilcox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Hill
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 834 people

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

Cemeteries Near Flatwood ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Flatwood.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Flatwood, with the one closest to Flatwood 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.<4>

While we didn't find Flatwood in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Flatwood.

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

  • Catherine
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Lamison
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Boiling Springs
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Boiling Springs is located in Wilcox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boiling Springs
  • Bethel
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Bethel is located in Wilcox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bethel
  • Gastonburg
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Prairie Bluff ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Magnolia
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Hampden
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Hampden is located in Marengo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hampden
  • Arlington
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Millers Ferry
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Millers Ferry is located in Wilcox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millers Ferry
  • Rehoboth
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • McKinley
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • McKinley is located in Marengo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McKinley
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Crenshaw ‑ Historic
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Crenshaw is located in Marengo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crenshaw
    • Central Mills
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Kimbrough
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Kimbrough is located in Wilcox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kimbrough

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

Newspapers Published in Flatwood ...

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 36 newspapers that have been published in the area around Flatwood.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Flatwood, there are papers which were published within 23 miles [37 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Flatwood.

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 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 Flatwood:

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>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- Flatwood) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Flatwood, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.