RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Alabama >> Mobile County >> Forest Park >> Genealogy HelperIndex...

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 Forest Park (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 Forest Park. 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.

Forest Park is located in Mobile 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 Mobile County: Baldwin, Washington, George (MS), Greene (MS) & Jackson (MS).

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

  • Mobile County     (The home county of Forest Park)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Forest Park, with the one closest to Forest Park listed first.
    • Mobile
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Tillmans Corner
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
      • Tillmans Corner is located in Mobile County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tillmans Corner
    • Country Club Village
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Country Club Village is located in Mobile County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Country Club Village
    • Theodore
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Prichard
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Chickasaw
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Eight Mile
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Bellefontaine
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Bellefontaine is located in Mobile County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bellefontaine
    • Irvington
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Saraland
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Mon Louis
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
      • Mon Louis is located in Mobile County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mon Louis
    • Saint Elmo
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Saint Elmo is located in Mobile County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Elmo
    • Semmes
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Baldwin County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Forest Park, with the one closest to Forest Park listed first.
    • Park City
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
      • Park City is located in Baldwin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Park City
    • Spanish Fort
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Daphne
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Montrose
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Fairhope
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Point Clear
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Bromley
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Bromley is located in Baldwin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bromley
    • Loxley
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Stapleton
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Clay City
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Clay City is located in Baldwin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clay City
    • Silverhill
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Whitehouse Forks
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Whitehouse Forks is located in Baldwin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whitehouse Forks
    • Marlow
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Marlow is located in Baldwin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marlow
  • George County (MS)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Forest Park, with the one closest to Forest Park listed first.
    • Howell
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Howell is located in George County (MS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Howell
    • Agricola
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Jackson County (MS)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Forest Park, with the one closest to Forest Park listed first.
    • Big Point
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Big Point is located in Jackson County (MS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Point
    • Hurley
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Helena
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Helena is located in Jackson County (MS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Helena
    • Orange Grove
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Orange Grove is located in Jackson County (MS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orange Grove
    • Coll Town
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Coll Town is located in Jackson County (MS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coll Town
    • Wade
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Wade is located in Jackson County (MS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wade
    • Moss Point
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Escatawpa
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Escatawpa is located in Jackson County (MS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Escatawpa
    • Americus ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Americus is located in Jackson County (MS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Americus

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

Cemeteries Near Forest Park ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Forest Park.

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 Forest Park - one of the links might be able to help.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Forest Park, with the one closest to Forest Park listed first.

  • Pine Crest Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Crest Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Pine Crest Cemetery is a very large cemetery that is located outside and to the southwest of Mobile.
    • The Pine Crest Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Pinecrest Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #658999 <2>
  • Casher Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
  • Lartigue Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
  • Morning Star Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
  • Pleasant Valley Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Carmelite Monastery Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • Ahavas Chesed Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Jewish Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Reformed Temple Jewish Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Sha'arai Shomayim Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sha'arai Shomayim Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Sha'arai Shomayim Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located in Mobile.
    • The Sha'arai Shomayim Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Sha'arai Shomayim Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2279783 <2>
  • Magnolia Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magnolia Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Magnolia Cemetery is a very large cemetery that is located in Mobile.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #24167 <2>
  • Little Magnolia Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (200 more) ...

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>

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

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

  • Cox
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Cox is located in Mobile County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cox
  • Spring Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Spring Hill is located in Mobile County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Hill
  • Mobile
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Theodore
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Plateau
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Plateau is located in Mobile County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plateau
  • Prichard
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Whistler
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Whistler is located in Mobile County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whistler
  • Daphne
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
  • Fowl River
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Fowl River is located in Mobile County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fowl River
  • Montrose
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
  • Saint Elmo
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Saint Elmo is located in Mobile County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Elmo
  • Mon Louis
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Mon Louis is located in Mobile County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mon Louis
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Kushla
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Kushla is located in Mobile County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kushla
    • Point Clear
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Fernland
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Fernland is located in Mobile County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fernland

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

Newspapers Published in Forest Park ...

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 145 newspapers that have been published in the area around Forest Park.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Forest Park, there are papers which were published within 13 miles [20.9 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Forest Park.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with 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 Forest Park:

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